Curious if anyone else had this experience...myself and all in my group were questioned by officials about our badges. Were asked the name of who owned the ticket. We won our tickets through the lottery but were told if we hadn't known the names of the ticket holders tied to the tickets we'd have been removed.

However I didn't see anyone being escorted out, and we all know many have badges bought from third parties. Anyone else have this occur? Was very strange. Felt like an interrogation.

I Am A Critic said:

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Gyles Marrett said:

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Curious if anyone else had this experience...myself and all in my group were questioned by officials about our badges. Were asked the name of who owned the ticket. We won our tickets through the lottery but were told if we hadn't known the names of the ticket holders tied to the tickets we'd have been removed.

However I didn't see anyone being escorted out, and we all know many have badges bought from third parties. Anyone else have this occur? Was very strange. Felt like an interrogation.

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What were you doing to draw their attention?

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about 30 yards past walking in the gate lol. Khaki shorts and half zip pullover with hat and sunglasses...like 99% of those around us.

I've been twice with lottery tickets and never were we questioned. Interesting.

Practice day or tourney day?

I know they are very strict on tickets so maybe their internal group that looks for tickets online was doing some more investigation.

Thursday as the gates opened.

Did they scan your badges ? Otherwise How would have they known if u made up a name ?

Interesting. They obviously know the secondary market is huge and I'm not sure why they would care enough to squash that, other than to make the ticket that much more exclusive. There used to be a large re-seller who set up shop literally right across the street from the main entrance. I'm not sure if they are still there or not.

Maybe it is to set the precedent so they can boot Greg Norman next year on the basis of him not being the original ticket holder.

GIF Reactor said:

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Interesting. They obviously know the secondary market is huge and I'm not sure why they would care enough to squash that, other than to make the ticket that much more exclusive. There used to be a large re-seller who set up shop literally right across the street from the main entrance. I'm not sure if they are still there or not.

Maybe it is to set the precedent so they can boot Greg Norman next year on the basis of him not being the original ticket holder.

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That was one of the first things I thought of when I heard that story about Norman couldn't get a ticket. There's a guy they knew for sure wasn't the original ticket holder and they did nothing...Makes it pretty random then to go after the average joe who bought his ticket.

Ag_07 said:

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That's a risk you take when buying on the secondary market and one that you should know. The Masters is notorious for that kind of stuff.

In your situation I'm guessing they were just doing random badge checks. They ask you the name, scan it, then if it doesn't match you're SOL and the ticket owner is blacklisted.

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Yeah, but it is SO widespread, if you're not acting a fool why even care?

I'm guessing a LIV guy could add Greg to his pass list, however that works at Augusta?

If you do buy on the secondary market. Make sure to get the ticket holders name and pay him twice, once for the face value of the ticket and keep that documentation with you, this is legal, and two a secondary payment for whatever the difference is in mkt value. I wouldn't buy a ticket otherwise risking 1500 and getting kicked out

Interesting. Never heard of that happening.

And the Masters is well aware of the secondary market and could easily put a stop to it if they wanted to. This seems to be the worst possible outcome. Turn a blind eye to the secondary market and then take it out on the guy who utilizes the black market you let exist. Surprising.

My guess is that The Masters or ANGC doesn't consider it their problem until it's on their grounds.

They have no business in who sells what online but if you use to access their property then it's a problem.

Historically, they've made an example of a seller or two a year who's stupid enough to post the tickets online with enough information to track down the seller (usually pictures of the bar code or color code on the tickets). But I've never heard of them going aggressively after buyers, much less random spot checks at the gate.

They've clearly allowed the secondary market to thrive. Stubhub rents out a space literally next door where people pick up their tickets. No chance that happens in Augusta without their tacit approval. If they did decide to start cracking down on buyers after turning a blind eye for so long, seems as though they should at least have made an announcement.

Like JCA1 said - did your buddy post a picture?

Maybe someone had attempted a counterfit with the same ticket info?

JCA1 said:

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Historically, they've made an example of a seller or two a year who's stupid enough to post the tickets online with enough information to track down the seller (usually pictures of the bar code or color code on the tickets).

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I think this is internet urban legend. I've never seen a story with proof.

Marauder Blue 6 said:

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JCA1 said:

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Historically, they've made an example of a seller or two a year who's stupid enough to post the tickets online with enough information to track down the seller (usually pictures of the bar code or color code on the tickets).

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I think this is internet urban legend. I've never seen a story with proof.

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I've seen stories stating as much, as well as letters supposedly from ANGC telling people their tickets were pulled. But I guess these could be made up/forgeries.

Edit - Here's an article from golf.com with a picture of one of the letters. Looks legit to me and I don't know why anyone would go to the trouble to forge something like this.

https://golf.com/news/tournaments/looking-to-buy-or-sell-pre-owned-masters-tickets-buyers-and-sellers-beware/?amp=1

Screwing a buyer over would be way out of line. Hopefully they weren't doing that.

I have a feeling the ticket scanners were giving random folks a hard time for their own amusement.

When I went in 2016 we all used secondary tickets. Tens of thousands of tickets were sold this year on the secondary market. If they were kicking people out we would be reading tens of thousands of stories about it.

I certainly would be ok if they were trying to get names of the re-sellers to blacklist them from future lotteries.

_lefraud_ said:

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I certainly would be ok if they were trying to get names of the re-sellers to blacklist them from future lotteries.

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I would too. Me and four of my family members have been in the lottery since 2012. Nothing. I'd pay double or triple face value but $2500/ticket is tough. Thanks to the resellers.

Pre-covid you could get Tuesday for $700 after-market. That was always far and away the best value IMO. Everyone plays. Fun environment. Can bring a camera. Now it's more than double that, if not more. Crazy.

The delta between the face value and resale value adds to the master's mystique. I'm guessing ANGC secretly likes this and that's why they don't really do much to police it.

JCA1 said:

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The delta between the face value and resale value adds to the master's mystique. I'm guessing ANGC secretly likes this and that's why they don't really do much to police it.

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Or they know if people want in that badly, they're going to go ballistic buying merchandise.

Marauder Blue 6 said:

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JCA1 said:

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The delta between the face value and resale value adds to the master's mystique. I'm guessing ANGC secretly likes this and that's why they don't really do much to police it.

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Or they know if people want in that badly, they're going to go ballistic buying merchandise.

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If they shut down the secondary market and you could only get in if you actually won the lottery, I think there's a decent chance people would spend more, knowing they'll likely never get back. But, admittedly, this wouldn't apply to badge holders. No idea what the percentage of badge holders to lottery tickets is.

If you go through the hospitality companies that put together Masters trips, odds are good that you'll pick up your badge in the morning at one of the private clubs (Club Magnolia, etc).

When you get your badge they tell you who you are there as a "friend" of in case you get stopped after you've entered. I've never been asked nor anyone in my group asked, but it must happen because they wouldn't waste their time giving you that info if it wasn't needed at some point.

I'm a perfect 3-3 getting in for FREE practice round tickets by asking strangers to let me use their re-entry at 2 or 3 p.m. or so.

And when it's my badge and I go early, I pay it forward and give others my badge for free when I leave. I just did it 2 weeks ago at the Monday practice round. I gave away my badge for free outside the south gate at 3:30 p.m.

It's very simple.

Are these practice rounds ? We drove by the parking lot on Friday afternoon and everyone we saw leaving had weekly badges and not day passes. I imagine people with lottery passes are staying until the bitter end . Understandably no one is going to let a stranger use their weekly badge.

lazuras_dc said:

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Are these practice rounds ? We drove by the parking lot on Friday afternoon and everyone we saw leaving had weekly badges and not day passes. I imagine people with lottery passes are staying until the bitter end . Understandably no one is going to let a stranger use their weekly badge.

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Yes. Practice rounds. I'll edit my post. Thanks.

aginlakeway said:

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I'm a perfect 3-3 getting in for FREE practice round tickets by asking strangers to let me use their re-entry at 2 or 3 p.m. or so.

And when it's my badge and I go early, I pay it forward and give others my badge for free when I leave. I just did it 2 weeks ago at the Monday practice round. I gave away my badge for free outside the south gate at 3:30 p.m.

It's very simple.

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Grew up in Augusta. As kids, buddies and I would get dropped off at or near the front gate every Wednesday of Masters week mid-morning by a parent for Par 3 tournament. Parent would then just leave us there. We always were offered free tickets to attend. We loaded up on autographs. This was back in the '70s though when times were much simpler. Doubt you can do that anymore.

AUAg92 said:

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aginlakeway said:

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I'm a perfect 3-3 getting in for FREE practice round tickets by asking strangers to let me use their re-entry at 2 or 3 p.m. or so.

And when it's my badge and I go early, I pay it forward and give others my badge for free when I leave. I just did it 2 weeks ago at the Monday practice round. I gave away my badge for free outside the south gate at 3:30 p.m.

It's very simple.

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Grew up in Augusta. As kids, buddies and I would get dropped off at or near the front gate every Wednesday of Masters week mid-morning by a parent for Par 3 tournament. Parent would then just leave us there. We always were offered free tickets to attend. We loaded up on autographs. This was back in the '70s though when times were much simpler. Doubt you can do that anymore.

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That's what I was thinking. The Masters has become such a tough/expensive ticket that it's a once-in-a-lifetime event for most and I'd guess most keep their ticket as a souvenir. I'm guessing getting in this way is much harder than it used to be.

JCA1 said:

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AUAg92 said:

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aginlakeway said:

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I'm a perfect 3-3 getting in for FREE practice round tickets by asking strangers to let me use their re-entry at 2 or 3 p.m. or so.

And when it's my badge and I go early, I pay it forward and give others my badge for free when I leave. I just did it 2 weeks ago at the Monday practice round. I gave away my badge for free outside the south gate at 3:30 p.m.

It's very simple.

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Grew up in Augusta. As kids, buddies and I would get dropped off at or near the front gate every Wednesday of Masters week mid-morning by a parent for Par 3 tournament. Parent would then just leave us there. We always were offered free tickets to attend. We loaded up on autographs. This was back in the '70s though when times were much simpler. Doubt you can do that anymore.

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That's what I was thinking. The Masters has become such a tough/expensive ticket that it's a once-in-a-lifetime event for most and I'd guess most keep their ticket as a souvenir. I'm guessing getting in this way is much harder than it used to be.

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Well, I am 3 for 3 over the last 8 years getting in that way the afternoon before the day I had practice round tickets. And I've always given my ticket away as I'm leaving. All 4 of us did that this.time. But maybe that's just us.

The only badges I have left from 11 trips are a few media badges.

Very nice of you. I wouldn't be stingy about the souvenir aspect, but if the ticket was connected to me or someone I know, I'd worry a bit about someone doing some asshattery that ends up blacklisting me. You must have a good "this is not an asshat" look about you