It’s the stuff of golfers’ dreams: a formal invitation from the Augusta National Golf Club to compete in the Masters Tournament, considered the most prestigious event on the golf calendar.
When Scott Stallings, a Georgia real estate agent, and his wife Jenny opened the door of their home on St. Simons Island on New Year’s Eve, they found that one such invitation had arrived via UPS.
The cover, a brilliant shade of green instantly recognizable to golfers as the Masters Green, was emblazoned with the Augusta National Golf Club logo in gold. And it was addressed to Mr. Stallings.
Inside was another envelope with his name – Mr. Scott Stallings – in calligraphy and an invitation from the club’s board of directors, signed by Augusta National Chairman Fred S. Ridley, who cordially invited him to play in the Masters tournament in April .
“You’ve just been invited to the Masters,” Jenny Stallings said to her husband as he unpacked the car. Both are “very laid back golfers,” they said; They enjoy a round or two but aren’t quite at the level required to compete with the likes of Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler.
But for a split second, Ms. Stallings said, her husband thought his moment had come.
“I was like, ‘Okay, well, I have this invitation,'” said Mr. Stallings, 60. “It had my name on it. How are the chances?”
Then he realized the invitation should be sent to that other Scott Stallings, a professional golfer and three-time PGA Tour winner who is ranked No. 54 in the world.
“I know straight away that I’m not,” said Mr. Stallings, the real estate agent who enjoys watching Mr. Stallings the golfer compete. “How the hell did it get here?”
The couple placed the invitation on their dining table and decided to contact Mr. Stallings, the golfer.
Mr. Stallings, the real estate agent, found the golfer on Instagram and sent him a direct message that he’d received his invite to the Masters at his Georgia home and was “sure it wasn’t for me.”
“I play but wow!” Mr Stallings wrote, adding: “I think we have some confusion over our names, our wife’s names and geographic location.”
Mr. Stallings, the golfer who lives in Tennessee and whose wife is also Jennifer, responded with a laugh-before-tears emoji, suggesting he thought it might be a prank.
So Mr. Stallings, the real estate agent, followed up with photos of the invitation. “I’m really not kidding, I promise,” he wrote in another direct message.
Mr. Stallings the golfer later shared the direct message from Mr. Stallings the real estate agent on Instagram.
“I was literally checking the mailbox five times a day and then yesterday I got this random DM,” the golfer wrote. “My Masters invitation was sent to another Scott Stallings.”
Augusta National did not immediately respond to emails and calls Tuesday asking for comment about how the invite was sent to the wrong Scott Stallings. Since the Masters began in 1934, the club has asked players to comment on the invitations.
On Monday, the two Scott Stallings and their wives got on the phone and made arrangements to get the invite to the real Scott Stallings.
The golfer said in an interview on Tuesday that he invited Mr. Stallings, the real estate agent, to dinner and a practice round at the Masters to thank him for agreeing to send out the invitation.
“It was just nice to see someone do the right thing,” said the golfer, adding, “I was just relieved that it physically existed.”
Ms Stallings captured video of her real estate agent husband separating from him at a UPS store.
“Okay, Scott,” she said. “Why are we in the UPS store?”
“Because I have to send my invitation to the Masters back to the other Scott Stallings,” he said, holding the invitation and frowning.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said.
“I tried,” he said. “That’s OK.”
And then it was gone, on its way to this other Scott Stallings, the one who’s really going to compete in the Masters.
“It was like getting Willy Wonka’s golden ticket,” Scott Stallings, the real estate agent, said on Tuesday. “It was hard to let go of it because I know how prestigious it is.”
Comments are closed.