US Masters 2023: Real estate agent Scott Stallings receives invite meant for golfer
In an ultimate case of sporting mistaken identity, a US real estate agent with a gold handicap of 27 was invited to play in this year’s Masters. This is his story.
The letter appeared in Scott Stallings’ mailbox on New Year’s Eve.
Stallings’ wife, Jenny, excitedly opened the envelope and inside was an official invitation from Augusta National to play the 88th Masters.
The parcel represented a dream come true for any golfer.
The problem is it wasn’t for that Scott Stallings, a 60-year-old Realtor from Atlanta who carries a handicap that hovers around 27 and couldn’t break 100 at Augusta if he was playing just 15 holes.
The invitation, inadvertently sent to the wrong address and to the wrong Scott Stallings, was intended for Scott Stallings, the 38-year-old journeyman PGA Tour player who’d earned his way into the Masters field by finishing runner-up in last season’s BMW Championship to land a spot in the Tour Championship for the first time in his career.
The mixup was an innocent mistake.
In 2014, the last time Scott Stallings the golfer played the Masters, he operated a management company based in St. Simons, Ga., a block away from where Scott Stallings the Realtor owns a vacation condo. That’s where Augusta National sent Stallings’ 2023 invitation. In its delivery, though, UPS had only one address for a Scott Stallings, in St. Simons, and redirected it to Scott the Realtor’s address.
When Jenny Stallings saw the letter on Augusta National letterhead, her eyes lit up because she and her husband had been trying to win practice-round tickets through the tournament’s lottery system for about 15 years with no luck.
Thing is, the couple had recently stopped entering the lottery because they were resigned to the fact that they’d never get inside the gates to Magnolia Drive and see Augusta National (“You just give up after a while,’’ Scott Stallings the Realtor said).
“I opened the envelope and said, ‘What are we getting from the Masters?’ ” Jenny recalled to The Post as she and the other Scott Stallings stood in front of the large manual Masters scoreboard alongside the first fairway. “I thought it was tickets. We had not applied for tickets this year, but I thought maybe one of our clients sent them.
“Then, I was like, ‘Wait a minute,’ and I read it and I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, this is an invitation to play,’ and I flipped out.’’
Jenny and Scott Stallings quickly looked up an Instagram address for Scott Stallings the golfer and sent him a message that read, in part, “I received a FedEx today from the Masters inviting me to play in the Masters Tournament. I’m 100 per cent sure this is not for me. Nowhere near your level.’’
According to Scott Stallings the Realtor, that IG message has gotten some 30 million views.
He offered to send the invitation to Scott Stallings the golfer, but Stallings the golfer thought it was a prank of some sort before his namesake sent another message saying, “I’m really not kidding I promise.’’ It was accompanied with a photo of the invitation and his telephone contact number.
Scott Stallings the golfer had been wondering where his invite was, knowing fellow players that had already received theirs. He actually thought his wife, Jenny (no kidding), had intercepted it and was waiting to leave it under the Christmas tree as a surprise for him. That, of course, never materialised when Christmas came and went.
When the invitation got to Scott Stallings the golfer, he vowed to have the other Scott and Jenny to the first two Masters practice rounds as his guest.
Masters invites the wrong Scott Stallings to major
So, there they were on Monday and Tuesday, after all those years of whiffing in the lottery, roaming the hallowed grounds of Augusta National for the first time. They wore Masters logo clothing from head to toe after an extended visit to the merchandise building and were soaking it all in as if they still couldn’t believe they were there
“It’s like an adult Disneyland,’’ Scott Stalling the Realtor said.
They were guests of Stallings the golfer at dinner Monday night. Better even, when they met Stallings the golfer for the first time on Sunday, he was in the middle of a pickleball match. When he saw them, he stopped playing, ran to them and hugged each of them.
Then he gave them a wrapped gift.
It was the Masters invitation, framed and signed, “Thank you from one Scott Stallings to the next.’’
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