Augusta National is not new for the American Mid-Am champion. But it will be playing

Brandon Holtz played in his first-ever USGA championship at the Mid-Am in September, but it won’t be his last. The 38-year-old from Indiana won the tournament at Scottsdale’s Troon Country Club with a 3-2 victory over his opponent in the final match, 28-year-old Jeg Coughlin III. With the victory, Holtz earns an exemption for next year’s US Open at Shinnecock Hills and (probably) an enviable invitation to the Masters in April. The Masters has traditionally extended an invitation to every U.S. mid-amateur champion since 1989.

For Holtz, a 38-year-old real estate agent and former college basketball player at Illinois State, the opportunity to compete on the hallowed grounds of Augusta National is a dream come true. Holtz played pro golf on the mini-tour circuit for six years before being reinstated as an amateur in 2024.

“I kept my pro card for a while just because I liked playing for money, and it got to the point where I just didn’t play any more events, so I decided to get my amateur status back last year,” Holtz told the USGA.

On this week’s episode of Subpar, Holtz expressed his excitement at the chance to do it at Augusta with his father on the bag, after the two had attended the Masters as patrons for the past two decades.

“It’s a unique opportunity, right?” Holtz told Subpar hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz. “Hopefully not, but let’s be a little more realistic. Yes, he’s on the bag. I think the plan is that maybe my brother is on the bag for the US Open and then hopefully gets that invite to the Masters and my dad is definitely on the bag.”

“My father won two [Masters] tournament badges for life in 2004,” Holtz continued. “He won the lottery when they opened it up to everything, so we’ve been going there for 20 years. It makes it a little more special because we understand how special it is. So just, you know, walking around the grounds and saying, oh, what’s behind that rope, what’s in that building? This year we are going to find out.”

Which hole is Holtz most looking forward to playing? A hint: these are not the hints you would expect.

“The ones I like to watch are No. 2 and No. 6,” he said. “No. 2, for the bigger hitters who have the opportunity to hit the No. 2 green and just because the green is crazy, but you can also kind of see how downhill that hole is. A lot of people don’t realize how undulating and how hilly that place actually is. But I really want to: [on] no. 14, [see] how crazy is that green. I just want to get a bucket of balls and hit chips around that thing as many times as I can, because it’s, I’ll tell you what, from the bottom to the top, I think it’s about eight feet.