The Augusta National Golf Club is a place where everything’s in order — no foul-ups, no mistakes, all the ducks are in a row.
So it was a major story to start 2023 when Scott Stallings kept looking in the mail for his invitation to the 2023 Masters with no success.
Stallings earned his invitation by advancing to the Tour Championship last year. He watched on social media as other PGA Tour members proudly displayed their invites.
He had a suspicion that his wife intercepted it and would hide it under the tree as a surprise Christmas present.
That didn’t happen.
And for good reason. His invite went to the “other” Scott Stallings — a fifty-something real estate guy in Atlanta who is a 90s-shooter on the golf course.
“Literally had been checking the mailbox five times a day,” Stallings said and then he got an Instagram message this past Sunday.
The message read:
“I play, but wow! Nowhere near your level. It’s a very nice package complete with everything needed to attend. I think we have some confusion because of our names, our wife’s names and geographical location. I can be reached at (redacted) and I am more than happy to send this package to you.”
The real estate Scott Stalling sent the Tour player Scott Stallings photos of the invitation and added to his message: “I’m really not kidding, I promise.”
Seems the real estate Stallings and his wife have a vacation home on St. Simons Island and received the FedEx package on New Year’s Eve.
“You just got invited to the Masters!” the real estate Stallings wife, Jennifer, told her husband as he was unloading the car. “And not as a guest but to play!”
The real estate Scott Stallings didn’t hesitate to do the right thing, although he often dreamed of simply attending The Masters.
The two Scotts played some phone tag thanks to the five-hour time difference between Georgia and Kapalua, where Tour player Scott is in this week’s Tournament of Champions field.
The two compared notes and concluded that Tour player Scott’s old management company had an office on St. Simons, next to where the real estate Scott has the vacation condo.
This past Monday, the invitation and Masters package were off to Kapalua to the Tour player Scott Stallings.
Real estate Scott wasn’t expecting anything for doing the right thing but there will be a reward.
“We’re going to give him some practice round tickets (to The Masters) and take him to dinner on Monday night (before The Masters) for doing the right thing,” Tour player Scott said.
This will be Scott Stallings third appearance in The Masters. He tied for 27th in 2012 and missed the cut in 2014. He had a nice comeback year in 2022 with five top-10 finishes, including a runner-up at the BMW Championship and his play helped him reach No. 54 in the World Rankings, best of his career.
As for the other Scott, well, he’ll make it to Augusta and meet his namesake.
And no doubt he’ll have a great story to tell for the rest of his life.
