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Brandon Holtz is the proverbial Cinderella story out of nowhere at Augusta National Golf Club.
An unranked, 39-year-old reinstated amateur and Remax real estate broker from Bloomington, Illinois, Holtz won the U.S. Mid-Amateur in September at Troon Country Club in Arizona to punch his ticket into the field of 91 contestants at the 90th Masters.
Established in 1981 to provide a true national championship for post-collegiate amateurs 25 and older with a handicap of 2.4 or less, the U.S. Mid-Am attracted 5,942 entrants into the field. Holtz won his local qualifier and began the week as one of 264 qualifiers at 69 sites around the country who first had to endure 36 holes of stroke play on two courses with the low 64 advancing to a single-elimination match-play bracket.
Holtz played well enough to do so but nearly got bounced in his quarterfinal match. He trailed 3-down with five holes to go before he birdied all five to force extra holes and birdied the next to win. He proceeded to birdie the first three holes of his match in the semis for nine straight birdies over two matches.
“A lot of these guys were out here playing the golf course how it’s supposed to be played and I was just out there trying to make birdies,” he said. “I’m not a rocket science but in match play isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?”
In the final, the glass slipper fit. He benefited from good advice from Todd Mitchell, a friend from home who had made the Mid-Am final in 2008, who told him, “Stay in Arizona.” In other words, stay in the present, don’t begin thinking about what it would be like to play in the Masters. “He basically said, ‘Don’t make the same mistake I made,’ ” Holtz recalled.
He raced to a 5-up lead after 20 holes, but his opponent Jed Coughlin III trimmed his deficit to 1 down after 28 holes. A birdie at the 34th hole, and the Robert T. Jones Jr. Memorial Trophy and a gold medal belonged to Holtz, 3 and 2. In addition to the Masters invite, he earned a berth in this year’s U.S. Open, the next two U.S. Amateurs and is exempt into the next 10 U.S. Mid-Amateurs. After he won, he received 5,000 texts and emails, hearing from friends that he hadn’t heard from in years. It took nearly a month to respond to them all.
The Cinderella Story out of nowhere is 14 years older than any of the other five amateurs in the field and he has improved to 3,263 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. The next highest ranked amateur in the field? No. 112. While Holtz concedes it’s surreal to be at the Masters, he’s quick to point out that he's no shrinking violet.
“There’s a reason we’re here,” Holtz said. “It’s not like we limped into it, although there probably are a lot of people that think that. I wouldn’t say I got lucky. I can play. If we went out and played, you’d find out.”
Holtz’s story is all the more remarkable considering he played college basketball – not golf – at Illinois State. He described his abilities as a three-point shooting specialist with self-deprecating humor: “I couldn’t run, I couldn’t jump, I couldn’t really dribble but I could shoot the hell out of it,” he said.
He turned pro as a golfer in 2010 and chased mini tours in the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia and Illinois, including the Hooters Tour, Peach State Tour and West Florida Golf Tour. He never won an event but only missed one cut. The largest check he ever cashed as a pro was for $14,000 for finishing runner up at the Illinois State Open. His biggest previous victory before winning the U.S. Mid-Am? A mini-tour event on the defunct National Pro Tour and more recently the City Medal Play in Bloomington after regaining his amateur status.
He beat around golf’s bush leagues for four years but when he got married and had two kids, it was time to find more steady work. Holtz previously sold sports equipment, but when COVID hit and youth sports shut down, he lost his job. Holtz is in his fourth year at ReMax, and it’s a job that allows him the flexibility to make his own schedule and squeeze in golf with his friends, who he said all are husbands and fathers like him. He applied to regain his amateur status in 2023, primarily so he could play with those buddies in local competitions, and was reinstated the following year.
Holtz has been to the Masters countless times thanks to his father, Jeff, who won lifetime badges in 2004. But they’ve never seen the Masters quite like this.
“We were always wondering what it’s like inside the ropes, what’s in that building and this year we found out a little bit in the practice rounds but we’ll get the entire show this week,” said Holtz, who had his dad on the bag when he won the U.S. Mid-Am and will have him reprise that role at the Masters.
They spent the maximum five days that competitors are allowed to spend at the club ahead of the Masters, and played 36 holes a day as well as bumping around the Par-3 course. He intends to enjoy all of the perks of being an amateur in the field, including spending at least one night in the Crow’s Nest. Fred Couples, a childhood favorite, and Gary Woodland, who played basketball in college, too, are high on his list to join for a practice round. The whole experience is the stuff of which golf dreams are made of, and golf’s everyman at the Masters is ready to give it his all.
“I’m a pretty realistic guy, the chances of me going out and winning the whole thing is a pretty low percent but I’m a competitor,” he said. “I want to make the cut and just want to compete for that low am.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Brandon Holtz's 'everyman' journey to the Masters
Continue reading...
An unranked, 39-year-old reinstated amateur and Remax real estate broker from Bloomington, Illinois, Holtz won the U.S. Mid-Amateur in September at Troon Country Club in Arizona to punch his ticket into the field of 91 contestants at the 90th Masters.
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Established in 1981 to provide a true national championship for post-collegiate amateurs 25 and older with a handicap of 2.4 or less, the U.S. Mid-Am attracted 5,942 entrants into the field. Holtz won his local qualifier and began the week as one of 264 qualifiers at 69 sites around the country who first had to endure 36 holes of stroke play on two courses with the low 64 advancing to a single-elimination match-play bracket.
Holtz played well enough to do so but nearly got bounced in his quarterfinal match. He trailed 3-down with five holes to go before he birdied all five to force extra holes and birdied the next to win. He proceeded to birdie the first three holes of his match in the semis for nine straight birdies over two matches.
“A lot of these guys were out here playing the golf course how it’s supposed to be played and I was just out there trying to make birdies,” he said. “I’m not a rocket science but in match play isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?”
In the final, the glass slipper fit. He benefited from good advice from Todd Mitchell, a friend from home who had made the Mid-Am final in 2008, who told him, “Stay in Arizona.” In other words, stay in the present, don’t begin thinking about what it would be like to play in the Masters. “He basically said, ‘Don’t make the same mistake I made,’ ” Holtz recalled.
He raced to a 5-up lead after 20 holes, but his opponent Jed Coughlin III trimmed his deficit to 1 down after 28 holes. A birdie at the 34th hole, and the Robert T. Jones Jr. Memorial Trophy and a gold medal belonged to Holtz, 3 and 2. In addition to the Masters invite, he earned a berth in this year’s U.S. Open, the next two U.S. Amateurs and is exempt into the next 10 U.S. Mid-Amateurs. After he won, he received 5,000 texts and emails, hearing from friends that he hadn’t heard from in years. It took nearly a month to respond to them all.
The Cinderella Story out of nowhere is 14 years older than any of the other five amateurs in the field and he has improved to 3,263 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. The next highest ranked amateur in the field? No. 112. While Holtz concedes it’s surreal to be at the Masters, he’s quick to point out that he's no shrinking violet.
“There’s a reason we’re here,” Holtz said. “It’s not like we limped into it, although there probably are a lot of people that think that. I wouldn’t say I got lucky. I can play. If we went out and played, you’d find out.”
Holtz’s story is all the more remarkable considering he played college basketball – not golf – at Illinois State. He described his abilities as a three-point shooting specialist with self-deprecating humor: “I couldn’t run, I couldn’t jump, I couldn’t really dribble but I could shoot the hell out of it,” he said.
He turned pro as a golfer in 2010 and chased mini tours in the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia and Illinois, including the Hooters Tour, Peach State Tour and West Florida Golf Tour. He never won an event but only missed one cut. The largest check he ever cashed as a pro was for $14,000 for finishing runner up at the Illinois State Open. His biggest previous victory before winning the U.S. Mid-Am? A mini-tour event on the defunct National Pro Tour and more recently the City Medal Play in Bloomington after regaining his amateur status.
He beat around golf’s bush leagues for four years but when he got married and had two kids, it was time to find more steady work. Holtz previously sold sports equipment, but when COVID hit and youth sports shut down, he lost his job. Holtz is in his fourth year at ReMax, and it’s a job that allows him the flexibility to make his own schedule and squeeze in golf with his friends, who he said all are husbands and fathers like him. He applied to regain his amateur status in 2023, primarily so he could play with those buddies in local competitions, and was reinstated the following year.
Holtz has been to the Masters countless times thanks to his father, Jeff, who won lifetime badges in 2004. But they’ve never seen the Masters quite like this.
“We were always wondering what it’s like inside the ropes, what’s in that building and this year we found out a little bit in the practice rounds but we’ll get the entire show this week,” said Holtz, who had his dad on the bag when he won the U.S. Mid-Am and will have him reprise that role at the Masters.
They spent the maximum five days that competitors are allowed to spend at the club ahead of the Masters, and played 36 holes a day as well as bumping around the Par-3 course. He intends to enjoy all of the perks of being an amateur in the field, including spending at least one night in the Crow’s Nest. Fred Couples, a childhood favorite, and Gary Woodland, who played basketball in college, too, are high on his list to join for a practice round. The whole experience is the stuff of which golf dreams are made of, and golf’s everyman at the Masters is ready to give it his all.
“I’m a pretty realistic guy, the chances of me going out and winning the whole thing is a pretty low percent but I’m a competitor,” he said. “I want to make the cut and just want to compete for that low am.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Brandon Holtz's 'everyman' journey to the Masters
Continue reading...
