Amateur Jose Luis Ballester plays a Masters practice round with fellow Spnaish player Jon Rahm at Augusta National.
Augusta National/Augusta National/Getty Images
As a 21-year-old first-time Masters participant, Jose Luis Ballester faces a tough task preparing for the first major of the year at Augusta National. And his prep work got even harder on Monday when his coach was kicked off Augusta’s range for a sartorial offense: wearing shorts.
Ballester earned his spot in the Masters field by winning the 2024 U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine. Adding to the potential nerves is the fact that Ballester, who goes by the nickname Josele, is paired with two-time Masters champion and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and two-time PGA champion Justin Thomas on Thursday and Friday.
That’s a lot pressure for Josele, who primarily will be playing college golf this year as a senior at Arizona State University. To help him prepare to compete at Augusta National for the first time, he brought along his head coach at ASU, Matt Thurmond.
Coach’s big shorts mistake
Thurmond is also in an unfamiliar position this week at Augusta. It’s the first time a student of his is in the Masters field.
Augusta National is well known for its strict rules, but some of the rules for patrons differ from the rules for players and their teams inside the ropes.
And Thurmond learned that the hard way.
On Monday, Thurmond was near the Tournament Practice Facility, the official name for Augusta’s tournament range and practice area. He saw one of his former students hitting, so with his coaches’ badge around his neck, which permitted him access to the practice area, he went to say hi.
One problem: he was wearing shorts. While patrons are allowed to wear shorts during Masters week, players and their coaches are not.
His stay on the range wouldn’t last more than a few minutes. Before long, a tournament official or member came by and politely “removed” Thurmond from the area for wearing shorts.
Thurmond shared the bizarre story via a post on X, in which he called his shorts mistake the “first bogey of the week.”
Strolled out onto the Augusta range today with my coach badge. Got removed for wearing shorts. First bogey of the week. Celebrated with an egg salad sandwich. Pants tomorrow.
“I went out on the range without thinking, gave him a hug,” Thurmond told Golfweek. “After about one shot and one quick hello, they came out and said ‘I’m sorry, sir, you can’t be on the range with your shorts.'”
Augusta National’s strict rules
Thurmond sent his X post announcing his removal at 3:49 p.m. ET on Monday. His late report is due to another one of Augusta National’s zero-tolerance rules: no cell phones are allowed on the property.
While there is some leeway for players, patrons have to surrender their phones at the gates, unless they leave them behind before getting to the course. Thurmond left his phone in the car before heading onto the grounds and fired off his X post once he left.
Among the other rules for patrons and members alike is that there is no running allowed on the property. And should you pick up your pace, someone will correct you quickly.
In the clubhouse dining room, members and guests are required to wear sport coats, and no hats are permitted.
And while patrons are allowed to wear shorts, they are required to dress in “golf casual” attire. That means collared shirts are recommended, and jeans and other more casual attire is not allowed.
Jason Day gets sweater banned
People running up against Augusta’s rules governing clothing is not a new thing. One notable example came at last year’s Masters.
Jason Day began Friday play at the 2024 Masters with a white Malbon sweater that featured gaudy block lettering. The sweater quickly became a topic of conversation. Then it disappeared.
“Yeah, they asked me to take it off — the vest off yesterday… the busy one,” Day said at the time. “Respectfully, you do that because it’s all about the tournament here, and I understand that. I respect the tournament. That’s what we’re here to do is try and play and win the green jacket.”
As senior managing producer for GOLF.com, Cunningham edits, writes and publishes stories on GOLF.com, and manages the brand’s e-newsletters, which reach more than 1.4 million subscribers each month. A former two-time intern, he also helps keep GOLF.com humming outside the news-breaking stories and service content provided by our reporters and writers, and works with the tech team in the development of new products and innovative ways to deliver an engaging site to our audience.
