AUGUSTA, GEORGIA | While perpetuating the rich tradition of amateur participation in the Masters last week, reigning U.S. Amateur champion José Luis Ballester added a priceless chapter to Augusta faux pas lore.
Paired with defending champion Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas in Thursday’s opening round at Augusta National, the 21-year-old Spaniard took a quick break near the 13th green to relieve himself in Rae’s Creek. Ballester had the decency to turn away from the grandstand near the 14th tee, but when he was finished with his business the patrons seated there gave him a hearty ovation.
“Well, I completely forgot that we had those restrooms to the left of the [13th] tee box … then I’m like, I really need to pee,” explained the Arizona State senior, who is clearly immune to stage fright. “Didn’t really know where to go, and since [Thomas] had an issue on the green, I’m like, I’m just going to sneak here in the river and probably people would not see me that much, and then they clapped for me. Probably one of the claps that I really got today real loud, so that was kind of funny.”
Though the lords of Augusta no doubt bristled at such a blatant flout of Masters decorum, it was hard not to see the humor in Ballester’s indiscretion and the subsequent sensation it created. His release in the so-called “river” unleashed a flood of coverage from the worldwide media gathered in Augusta, with the act referred to variously as “taking relief,” “a leak in Rae’s Creek” and “a watershed moment.”
Asked if he was concerned there might be blowback from Augusta’s powers that be, especially given that patrons witnessed the interlude, Ballester was unrepentant. “They saw me. It was not embarrassing at all for me. If I had to do it again, I would do it again,” he said.
Asked to remove a gaudy sweater vest last year, Jason Day toned down his Masters wardrobe this year.
As with amateur participation, the Masters has a long history of behavior that has run afoul of Augusta National’s prescribed propriety. Sam Snead played nine holes of a 1942 practice round barefoot. Amateur great Frank Stranahan was excluded from the 1948 tournament after allegedly playing two balls during a practice round. Announcer Jack Whitaker was removed from the Masters TV broadcast after calling the 18th hole gallery a “mob” in 1965, much as the wisecracking Gary McCord was banished after his “bikini wax” comment about Augusta’s greens in 1994. Ken Green drank a beer on the 15th fairway to toast playing partner Arnold Palmer in 1997, the same year Fuzzy Zoeller incited a firestorm with his ill-advised fried chicken and collard greens quips as 21-year-old Tiger Woods marched to an historic victory.
Asked to remove a gaudy sweater vest last year, Jason Day toned down his Masters wardrobe this year. And on Wednesday, the day before Ballester took center stage, his Arizona State coach, Matt Thurmond, was ejected from the grounds for the day for sporting shorts on the practice range.
While the repercussions for the litany of Masters offenses have varied, Augusta National has shown a reasonable measure of forgiveness through the years. Club chairman Billy Payne castigated Woods in 2010 following the golfer’s infidelity scandal, but Woods never became a persona non grata and subsequently delivered another historic moment with his fifth Masters victory in 2019. The tournament welcomed 2009 champion Ángel Cabrera back this year after Cabrera had served prison time for a domestic violence conviction in his native Argentina. And Zoeller, the 1979 champion, is still a perennial green-jacketed presence on the property during tournament week.
Ballester, who missed the cut with rounds of 76-78, acknowledged Friday that he had apologized to the club. As for consequences for the episode, a yellow card would seem apropos.
Mike Cullity
E-MAIL MIKE
Top: Jason Day and his caddie, Luke Reardon, during the 2024 Masters.
JAMIE SQUIRE, GETTY IMAGES