AUGUSTA, Ga. — On a typical Saturday there are two places you’re likely to find 39-year-old realtor Brandon Holtz. An open house or participating in his standing 12-man scramble in the Bloomington, Ill., area.
This weekend, Holtz would love nothing more but keeping his feet planted on the pristine grounds at Augusta National. An amateur qualified through the U.S. Mid-Amateur at Troon Country Club in Arizona last September, Holtz has been to the Masters on 15 occasions. But this week, he takes in Masters No. 16, inside the ropes.
“I’m the old fat guy out here. It’s been great,” said Holtz, who will tee off at 9:02 a.m. Thursday in a group that includes two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson. “I’ve met a lot of guys, talked to them, just trying to understand their story a little bit. Played with Tommy Fleetwood (Tuesday), played with Jordan Spieth (Wednesday). Talk about two icons of the sport. Just learned some things from them. At points in time I was just sitting back and watching them play.”
Holtz played college basketball at Illinois State University and became a Masters regular not because of his golf game. His dad, Jeff, serving as Holtz’s caddie this week, was awarded lifetime Masters badges in 2004. On Wednesday, Brandon played in the par-3 contest with his wife, Liz, and 6-year-old son Baker. Daughter, Millie, 2, was also with the group.
Only a year removed from college basketball, Brandon Holtz turned pro. In golf. He wasn’t sponsored and by the time constant travel costs were tabulated, it didn’t take a math genius to compute Holtz was going to need a different path. He had two different college coaches at ISU. One who recruited the hometown kid and another for the final two seasons. Both said they would’ve pushed Holtz to golf had they known this week’s events were a potential reality.
“We can all — hindsight is 20/20,” Holtz said. “We can all sit and dream and wish. Just take life as it comes to you and live in the moment.”
Holtz sees his name published pre-tournament on a ranking of the full 91-player field this week and mostly he’s positioned at the extreme tail end of a rundown that begins with names like Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.
There is nothing for Holtz to prove on Thursday, Friday or beyond should he continue into the weekend. But he’s already feeling the benefits of being one of the select players at Augusta National this week. Because he felt like he was struggling with the club that got him here — the driver — one of his friends and the USGA arranged for Holtz to have his old driver sent to the course. He anticipated signing for it Wednesday afternoon.
“Only got half a day left, but sometimes you just got to get out there and play. Shut the brain off and tee it up and hit it and go find it and hit it again,” Holtz said.
Most Saturdays, Holtz is at Lakeside Country Club. It’s a nine-hole track, memberships for a single golfer under age 40 runs $1,835 and Holtz’s preferred breakfast food gas station is adjacent to two holes. Use your imagination to picture the type of food and goodies runs the group might make between tee shots.
What would it be like to be playing a slightly more challenging round on Saturday for Holtz? He’s trying not to think that many shots ahead.
“I’m taking one shot at a time, trying not to get too far ahead of myself,” Holtz said. “You don’t know what you don’t know. Obviously I’ve been out here, but (it) hasn’t been tournament time yet. So one shot at a time and see what happens.”
Augusta National club rules prohibit cell phones on course, and Holtz thought long and hard about breaking those rules after spending Tuesday with Fleetwood and Wednesday being looped into a pairing with Spieth.
“I wish I had my camera. I see all those people taking photographs and I’m wanting to take a shot or two myself. (Spieth is) a great guy,” Holtz said. Just got a lot of information off him. We just talked, talked as people talk. Learned a little bit about his family and he was asking about mine. So it was just really, really fun to play with him.”
