Jack Gruber-USA TODAY
A golf fan in South Carolina shared a disappointing Masters story on social media with practice rounds kicking off. He claims to have been banned from the event while having his tickets revoked over a case of stolen identity.
The fan made a plea to tournament officials in hopes of having that banishment lifted. While he won’t be attending this year’s event, he hopes to have his status for purchasing tickets to The Masters in upcoming years restored.
The golf fan is Josh Knauer. He detailed his story in a thread on X Monday afternoon.
I was supposed to be at the Masters today. Instead, due to a baffling mix of fraud and/or misunderstanding, I had my tickets cancelled and am currently banned from attending again. Here’s my story – and a plea for help…
-X / @jknauer42
The tournament policy on resold tickets is strict. USA Today laid out the punishment for listing and/or purchasing tickets on secondary markets.
“Augusta National is the only authorized source for Masters tickets and says the resale of any tickets are strictly prohibited,” that policy states. “If someone acquires tickets from another source, it could result in exclusion from the tournament.”
The only permitted way to purchase tickets is through The Masters’ lottery system. The window for that lottery closes months before the event. Josh Knauer was able to successfully secure tickets for 2025 by going through that process, he says.
I won tickets for the 2025 Masters through the official lottery. I paid for the tickets in July of 2024 and received them in the mail about a month ago. I planned to attend with my wife, brother, and friend.
I didn’t share this information online – and very few people in my social circle knew. I had work + travel + childcare arrangements all set, and the tickets were locked away at my house from the second I received them.
-X / @jknauer42
Knauer states that he’d made plans to attend Monday’s opening practice round. He was informed in a late March email that his tickets had been cancelled.
On Tuesday, March 25th I received an email from Augusta National. They wrote “It has come to our attention you listed your tickets for sale with a third-party. Therefore be advised your tickets have been cancelled and your name has been removed from future consideration.”
-X / @jknauer42
As he was making an official appeal to have that decision overturned, he came across a Facebook account with his name and photo. That account had blocked Josh Knauer, though he was able to see a caption on the fishy profile that read, “Member of The Golf Masters Tournament Ticket Updates.” The date of the account’s creation appears to be early March.
Knauer says he had no knowledge of the profile. He’d never planned to sell his Masters tickets. He only wants to prove his innocence and have his banishment lifted.
Ticket fraud has been a hot topic in past years at The Masters. In 2020, a man from Athens, GA was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a scheme that used stolen identities to obtain tickets.
Stephen Michael Freeman and three family members sold those illegally acquired tickets for a profit after the fact. The family agreed to pay nearly $300,000 in restitution as a result.
The family purchased bulk mailing lists to obtain names and addresses of people that were used to create fake accounts for Augusta National’s online ticket lottery… Those accounts were submitted with email addresses controlled by Freeman and his relatives.
-NBC Sports
Tickets for The Masters are a popular item. Prices for practice rounds are set at $100 with the tag going up to $140 for Thursday-Sunday rounds. Those prices skyrocket on the secondary market, with single-day tickets going for upwards of $5,000.
Those who do secure admission through the lottery system are a select bunch. Estimations suggest that only 0.55% of lottery entries are successful.
Josh Knauer says he unknowingly wound up on the wrong side of a fraud attempt. He insists it was at no fault of his own. He was not able to attend Monday’s practice round. He hopes to have the opportunity to visit Augusta National in the future.