Arizona State golf coach kicked out of Masters practice for dress code faux pas

Arizona State men’s golf coach Matt Thurmond discovered Monday that Augusta National doesn’t mess around with its rules about shorts crossi🐼ng t﷽he ropes and entering the course or practice range.

Thurm👍ond needed to leave the practice range because he decided to wear shorts inste𒅌ad of pants, he confirmed in a post to X on Monday.

“Strolled out onto the Augusta range today with my coach badge,” Thurmond wrote. “Got removed for wearing shorts. First bogey of the week. Celebrat༺ed with an egg sala☂d sandwich. Pants tomorrow.”

Thurmond attended the Ma🎶sters with Arizona State senior Jose Luis Ballester, , and was talking with Arizona State alum Kevin Yu while on the practice range.

After revealing the mistake on social media, ,𒁃 “Apparently not” in response to , “Come on Matt. You’re smarter than that!”

“I went out on the range without thinking, gave [Yu] a hug,” Thurmond . “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.’”

Ballester, the reigning United Stꦰates Amateur champion and current Sun Devil, will participate in his second major this weekend, teeing off with Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas when the opening round begins𓆉 Thursday.

The trio will also be paired togetꦛher on Friday before everything changes for the final two rounds based on who makes the cut.

Ballester also competed in the British Open during t🐻he 2023 schedul𒐪e, shooting 5-over and missing the cut.

“The Masters is such an emotional week, you try to do everything perfect,” Ballester told reporters this week, . “Coach [Thurmond] told me not to start doing different things, or prepare for this tournament in a different way, just because it’s more special.”

Arizona State hired Thurmond in 2016 following his 15 seasons with Washington, and he inherited a program with a storied history that includes Jon Rahm, Phil Mickelson and the four combined Masters they’ve won throughout their r꧃espective careers.

👍And now, after this week, he’ll remember to wear pants while on the Augusta practice range.

“My bad, it was a mistake I made,” Thurmond told Golfweek. “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.”