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The Masters boasts what is arguably the hottest ticket in sports, and it’s very hard to get your hands on the badges that permit you to walk the hallowed grounds of Augusta National if you don’t win the annual lottery. One aspiring patron decided to show up outside the gates in an attempt to gain access, but he found himself behind bars after his plan backfired.
On Monday, Augusta National opened its doors for the estimated 50,000 people who were lucky enough to earn the right to attend one of the three practice rounds that unfold before The Masters get underway each year.
That famously secretive institution does not release official attendance numbers, so there’s no way to know how many people actually flocked to the golf mecca for the tournament.
It also keeps the world in the dark about the popularity of the ticket lottery that most fans will have to rely on if they want to attend the major, but there is evidence that suggests less than 1% of the estimated two million prospective patrons who apply each year will end up landing the badges that grant them entry.
You can theoretically make some serious money if you try to move those badges on the secondary market, but buyers and sellers risk a lifetime ban from a golf club that is known for having an uncanny ability to sniff out those transactions and bring down the hammer on the people involved in them.
As a result, you need to exercise some tact if you’re hoping to purchase one for yourself, and it would appear that getting drunk and showing up outside Augusta National to try to convince people to sell you theirs as they’re leaving is not a strategy for success.
A South Carolina man landed in jail after being charged with trespassing for soliciting people for badges to The Masters outside Augusta National
Most people aren’t bold enough to try to resell their tickets to The Masters, but it can be a very lucrative venture if you manage to get away with it.
Badges for the actual tournament are the most sought-after passes, and according to TicketData, you’d have to pay a minimum of $7,905 to attend the opening round this year and close to $35,000 to gain access from Thursday to Sunday.
The three days of practice rounds that precede The Masters are slightly more reasonable, but you’ll still have to fork over thousands if you’re able to find someone willing to part with their badge.
According to The Augusta Press, a South Carolina resident named Matthew Stroud tried to do that on Monday morning by showing up outside the North Gate at Augusta National and hounding people who were leaving for their tickets.
He was told to leave the area after a deputy with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office instructed him to move on around 11 A.M. However, the allegedly intoxicated Stroud eventually returned and was subsequently hit with a criminal trespassing charge that landed him in jail until he was released after posting a $285 bond.
I guess you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, but it’s hard to imagine that plan was ever going to pan out.