[Photo: Augusta National]
Each year, the Masters sells food to fans not fortunate enough to be patrons at Augusta National. These kits are called a “Taste of the Masters”, and while there’s nothing like being there, they certainly make a Masters party seem more authentic. But it turns out that one golfer had a literal taste of the Masters once.
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That player is Sahith Theegala, who admitted to doing a wild and “probably illegal” thing during his first visit to Augusta National. Credit to Golfweek‘s Adam Schupak for collecting a bunch of fun first-trip stories from golfers, but the one from Theegala was particularly entertaining. Here’s what he said:
“I went with my college golf team. We had played in a tournament at Augusta and I think It was everyone’s first time. We were adamant we get there as soon as the gates opened and told coach we were staying until we literally got kicked out of the place. We had a stack of cups from all the sweet teas we had. This was probably illegal, but I remember picking a blade of grass and I ate it because I thought it would give me some magical Masters powers.”
Wow. Channeling Les Miles like that is crazy. And, yes, we’re guessing that sort of thing would be frowned upon by the club considering their well-known strict rules.
Has it worked for Theegala? Well, he did finish in an impressive ninth place in his Masters debut in 2023. Then followed that up with a T-45 and a T-29 the past two years. So… maybe?
Unfortunately for Theegala, he’s one of several surprising big names not to qualify for this year’s event yet. But there’s still time for him if he can win or get back into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking in the next two weeks. An invite would allow him to play in the year’s first major and try the new Masters candy bar. We’d advise staying away from any blades of grass, though.