AUGUSTA, Ga. — Two men, same name, but very different reasons for being at the 87th Masters this week.
Scott Stallings, the 38-year-old PGA Tour pro in his 13th season on the circuit, hadn’t earned a spot in the Masters since 2014 until he nearly won the BMW Championship in August and qualified for the 30-man field at the Tour Championship, which earns an exemption for the Masters in April. The Other Scott Stallings, which is how the golfer Scott Stallings lists him in his phone, is a 60-year-old realtor from Atlanta, who had entered the annual Masters lottery for tickets with little luck.
But on New Year’s Eve, he and his wife, Jenny, who coincidentally shares a name with Scott Stallings the golfer’s wife, went to their vacation home in St. Simons Island, Georgia, and noticed a UPS envelope by the door. Jenny ripped it open and announced, “We have tickets to the Masters.”
She read a little closer and realized it wasn’t tickets to the Masters, it was an invitation to play in the Masters.
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“Anything can go through your head, like, wow, what if I just showed up with my clubs and got on the course,” Scott, the realtor said during a phone interview. “We knew right away that we had to get it into his hands.”
Apparently, there are 20,000 people with the name Stallings in America. Stallings, the golfer, had never updated the new address of his management firm in St. Simons Island with Augusta National. The UPS driver knew there wasn’t a Scott Stallings at the address on the label and did the next best thing: delivered the over-sized envelope containing the Masters invite to the address of the Scott Stallings he did know, assuming it must be for him.
I promise you I wasn’t kidding! @TheMasters Invitation mailed to you. My wife made me do it! You’re Welcome @stallingsgolf pic.twitter.com/x0hTdPyXBS
— TheStallingsTeam (@stallingsteam) January 2, 2023
In the meantime, Scott Stallings, the golfer was beginning to wonder where his invite to the season’s first major could be.
“I just thought my wife had it and she was trying to surprise me,” he said. “She goes, ‘I promise on our children that I do not have this invitation you’re looking for.’ ”
Scott Stallings, the realtor’s wife, went on Instagram and sent pictures via direct message to Scott Stallings, the golfer, as proof of the mix up. The note began, please read, this is not a joke.
And that’s how Scott Stallings finally received his Masters invite with an assist from Scott Stallings, the realtor.
When it showed up, Stallings the golfer took a video during which his wife piped up and said, “I told you I didn’t have it.”
One good deed deserves another, and on Sunday, Scott Stallings the golfer met Scott Stallings the realtor not far from where the Masters will be contested. The golfer gave the realtor badges for Monday and Tuesday practice rounds, and presented them with a gift, framing the original invitation that he had received in the mail. He signed it, “Thank You. From one Scott Stallings to the next.”
Happy #Masters week 💚 enjoy this @SportsCenter piece pic.twitter.com/3LPdi7QfGb
— Scott Stallings (@stallingsgolf) April 3, 2023
Scott Stallings, the realtor, followed Scott Stallings, the golfer, on the second nine at Augusta National with TV cameras from Atlanta news stations in tow.
“Everyone within shouting distance reacted,” Scott the realtor said. “Are you that guy? Yeah, I’m that guy,” he said.
“It’s been surreal,” Jenny, the wife of Scott the realtor said.
About the only negative from the experience has been the response from Augusta National, which left it to Stallings to make right. (He also invited them to a fundraising dinner he hosted for the Tennessee Golf Foundation in which a chef from back home fired up a Green Egg and grilled a feast of beef, chicken, pulled pork and all the fixings.)
“I think they took it the wrong way as if they were at fault,” Scott the realtor said. “It was a feel-good story. We had no intention of it going viral the way it did. He tweeted it out and it exploded.”
Scott the golfer remembers that after he re-tweeted the humorous tale of his missing Masters invite, his phone exploded with messages. “I woke up and I was like, Who died?”
The story went viral and Scott the realtor enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame.
“After about three-four calls from Augusta National, they were like hey, man, can you calm this guy down? It’s like I’m not in charge of another grown man,” Scott the golfer said. “Neither of us thought it was going to get the attention that it did.”
So, he took it upon himself to celebrate the fact that the two Scotts had finally made it to the promised land.
“You just don’t see stuff like that anymore. More often than not, people are looking out for themselves,” Scott the golfer said. “I told him, he restored my faith in humanity.”
Without badges for the actual tournament, Scott the realtor and his wife, Jenny, were driving home late Tuesday afternoon but the Masters won’t be far from their minds.
“We’ll be glued to the TV,” he said. “We do want to see Scott win the Masters this year. It’s in the stars.”
[chalkline game=”augusta-challenge”]
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