1 week Ago By Charlie Gordon
Coach Matt Thurmond was escorted off the Augusta National practice range for wearing the wrong clothes earlier this week. The Arizona State University golf guru is at this year's Masters to work with Spanish amateur star Josele Ballester. But Thurmond's trip to Georgia got off to a calamitous start when he forgot the 'no shorts' rule, which even applies during practice days.
The coach spotted a familiar face on the range in Kevin Yu and sauntered over for a chat, only for their catch-up to be humiliatingly cut short by an Augusta official who promptly reminded Thurmond of the guidelines. Clearly seeing the funny side of the situation, Thurmond wrote on X : "Strolled out onto the Augusta range today with my coach badge. Got removed for wearing shorts.
First bogey of the week. Celebrated with an egg salad sandwich. Pants tomorrow.
" He later explained: "I went out on the range without thinking, gave [Yu] a hug. After about one shot and one quick hello, they came out and said, ‘I’m sorry, sir, you can’t be on the range with your shorts.’ "My bad, it was a mistake I made.
I want to follow the rules here when I’m at Augusta and do everything right. Lucky to be here and appreciate everything here. I just made a mistake.
" It promises to be a big week for Thurmond and 21-year-old Ballester, who enrolled in Arizona State University in 2021. The Spaniard earned All-American honours in each of his first two seasons, and has practiced with Jon Rahm and Phil Mickelson, who also played for the college's 'Sun Devils' golf team. Ballester is a promising talent but his only previous major appearance came at The Open in 2023, where he missed the cut.
One of Thurmond's primary tasks will be to make sure his player is not overawed by the occasion when he starts his first round on Thursday. That won't be easy, with Ballester placed in a star-studded group alongside world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and two-time major winner Justin Thomas.
Scheffler has worn the green jacket in two of the past three years, while Thomas has twice finished inside the top 10. Ballester is from good stock, with his dad a former Olympic swimmer and his mum an ex-field hockey player. He counts Thurmond as his college coach, but also receives guidance from Sergio Garcia's father, and he considers Garcia himself to be a mentor.
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