As one of only seven amateurs teeing it up at Augusta National this week, Gordon Sargent is living a dream.
The 19-year-old reigning NCAA Division I champion accepted a special invitation to compete at this year’s Masters — and was reminded of his rookie status soon after arriving on property.
Sargent appeared on The Back of the Range podcast, hosted by Ben Adelberg, to talk about his experience thus far. When asked about how it feels to be living some of the last days of his teenage years at the Masters, Sargent revealed that he was a victim of mistaken identity.
“I was definitely grounded a little bit this morning when I was looking for Player Dining,” Sargent said. “A couple of people thought I was in the Drive, Chip & Putt.
“It starts off yesterday, I tried to go into the pro shop to ask them what time I could play tomorrow. I’m like, ‘Look, I’m a player, I have my caddie right here.’ The guy’s, like, ‘No, you’re going to have to have your badge.’”
Sargent then described a separate conversation with Augusta security where he once again had to produce a player badge, which the guards scrutinized for the proper clearance into Player Dining. Once there, Sargent’s tale continued.
“One of the waiters there waited on me last time I was there, a couple of weeks ago, so he remembered me,” he said. “But then, I think they were, like, ‘Where are the kid’s parents? Did they just send him by himself for the Drive, Chip & Putt?’ The waiter was giving me a hard time about it. I talked to him after and he was, like, ‘How’d the Drive, Chip & Putt go?'”
“There probably were some kids over there that were bigger than me, some 13-year-olds,” Sargent conceded with a smile.
Sargent is currently a sophomore at Vanderbilt, and the world’s top-ranked amateur. He’s the first amateur player to be honored with a special invitation to compete since Aaron Baddeley in 2000.
