(Getty)
Augusta National Golf will have to mulligan after a recent clerical error.
On New Year’s Eve, Georgian real estate agent Scott Stallings received the invitation of his life to play in this year’s Masters Tournament, one of the big four championships in professional golf.
Unfortunately, the official invitation, sent via UPS, was not for Scott Stallings, a 60-year-old casual golfer who lives on St. Simons Island with his wife, Jenny, the New York Times reported.
Instead, the invitation was for Scott Stallings, 37, who is a Tour player with three PGA Tour wins to his credit and is ranked 54th in the world, the outlet reported.
“Right away I know it’s not me,” Scott Stallings, the real estate agent, told The Times. “How the hell did he appear here?”
Scott Stallings then reached out to his PGA namesake, who lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, via an Instagram direct message saying he was “sure it’s NOT for me.”
“It’s a very nice complete package with everything needed to attend,” the estate agent added.
After some initial skepticism that the DM was a hoax, PGA pro Scott Stallings finally shared the news on his Instagram account.
“I had literally checked the mailbox five times a day, then got this random DM yesterday,” said the golfer. “My Masters invitation was sent to another Scott Stallings.”
The two men and their wives, who are called Jenny and Jennifer, spoke on the phone and arranged for the invitation to be sent to the golfer. The PGA pro told The Times he also invited the estate agent to dinner and practice at the Masters, which is played in April, to thank him for forwarding the invitation.
Although Augusta National did not provide a comment to The Times, the real estate agent speculated that he received the invitation because the two men have the same name, wives who have similar names and live in the same region of the country.
Jenny Stallings then took a video of her husband at a UPS store, sending out the invite on his behalf.
—Ted Glanzer