For some patrons at this year’s Masters, the toughest challenge wasn’t navigating the course but an interrogation by security at the front gate. Last year, patrons stripped off resold master badges, and the club did it this year, too.

Last week, on Thursday, at The Masters, patrons were stopped upon arrival for questioning. They were asked questions about the origins of their Masters passes, another attempt of the club to prohibit ticket resales. Many present there mentioned that if a patron’s weekly badge scanned abnormally, they were being held back by a security officer.

In the end, reportedly, four patrons were asked to leave Augusta National after the round of questions. Others were given their badges after they were checked by a tournament employee. Identity proof also had to be presented.

One patron told Front Office Sports that the process took nearly an hour, and the majority of the time was spent waiting outside before a roughly 10-minute questioning session inside.

“It was a bloodbath,” one hospitality company executive told Front Office Sports. “Several of our customers were interrogated on arrival, and about half of those badges were canceled. And here’s the worst part: A ticket that scanned with no problem Thursday and Friday would get targeted Saturday.”

The executive also said that some fans who had their badges confiscated received one-day passes to stay on the grounds. Another source said that Augusta National wants to control as many aspects as possible of what is happening around town during Masters week.

“They want to eliminate an uncontrolled, unregulated, secondary ticket market,” the source said.

The badges usually come from lifetime membership, which was acquired majorly in the 1960s and 1970s, alongside the yearly lottery process. However, recently badges have been found listed for $10,000 or more on StubHub, a leading online ticket marketplace and secondary broker.

Augusta National has banned original purchasers for life whose badges have been found on secondary marketplaces like StubHub, without listening to any appeals of the accused. As a result, families with years of long badge history have been expelled after resale instances. The club states it is the only authorized seller of Masters tickets, underscoring its intent to control all distribution.

Masters May Show a Radical Change in the Ticketing Process

The recent ban on ticket resale is just the reflection of Augusta National’s primary ideology of exclusivity. Not everyone gets to be a member at Augusta National. Similarly, it’s very difficult to get your hands on a Masters badge.

Greg Norman, CEO of Extra Point, reiterated the importance of this measure by the club. He stated that this move was typical of premier events, and in the future, Augusta might end up partnering with a ticketing provider or create its own ticket platform.

“What I see the Masters doing is evolving over time, which all great events do,” said Greg Nortman. “I have been an advocate for rights holders. And they should be able to not have speculative assets selling against theirs on these exchanges,” he added.

According to Norman, an official ticketing platform would lead to the protection of the Masters’ revenue flow and the effective cost-management of the tickets. The resale factor would be dismissed completely, which caused the ticket prices to be extremely high. The change would lead to smooth transactions, control over the inventory, and prevention of modification in the prices by brokers.

Tony Knopp, CEO of TicketManager, personally knew double-digit badge holders who lost their access to the tournament.

“The difference with the Masters is they can do it with a heavy hand,” Knopp said. “They’re not that worried about public criticism.”

Moreover, SeatGeek, due to all the complexities, announced it would not support Masters tickets. The resale intricacies were also acting as a deterrent for them. The collaboration with ticketing platforms would help Augusta National in its aim for exclusivity for the Masters. Their finance and ticketing processes would also be benefited by the new endeavor.