Hilarious Mix-ups
Tour pro’s Masters invite was lost in the mail (literally)—until a good Samaritan reached out on social media
Chung Sung-Jun
An annual tradition since the advent of social media has been tour professionals posting their Masters invitations once they receive them in the mail. It is true that you haven’t officially been invited to the upcoming year’s Masters Tournament until receiving the snail mail physical invite from Augusta National Golf Club. You might’ve met the posted qualifications, but Augusta’s tournament committee reserves the right to not invite you should it choose.
So you could imagine how Scott Stallings felt when he saw his fellow tour pros posting their invitations late last month—and him never finding his. The 37-year-old had a resurgent year in 2022—posting seven top-10 finishes, including a runner-up at the BMW Championship at Wilmington Country Club, to secure an invitation to the Tour Championship—which (ordinarily) secures a Masters invitation.
Considering Stallings has not played the Masters since 2014, you could imagine how much anticipation the Tennessee resident would’ve felt to receive that coveted piece of mail from Augusta. Alas, it never appeared. That is, until, it showed up—in all places—in Stallings’ DMs.
Yes, the tour pro shared the direct message from a Twitter user on Monday morning. It appears that he shares the name with another way-more-average golfer named Scott Stallings. Have a look at the hilarious exchange:
We have so many thoughts. Stallings, the PGA Tour professional, is very lucky that his namesake good Samaritan—who CNN is reporting is a realtor from Saint Simons Island, Ga.—is also a golfer. Someone who might not appreciate the enormity of a Masters invitation might’ve just chucked this in the garbage.
Also, Stallings isn’t exactly a common last name … but what are the odds that both Stallings have a wife named Jennifer? It sounds like Stallings, the realtor, was convinced by Jennifer that he had to send the invite on to Stallings, the tour pro, which he shared doing online as well.
Just a wild, wild string of events that now will have a happy ending.
The tour pro can now rest easy—and make his travel plans official for April. If we had to bet, we would imagine Stallings will do his best to make sure his new best friend will also be able to make it to Augusta for the Masters … that way each Scott Stallings can enjoy the biggest event in golf.