It's a green and flowered oasis of Southern civility and charm. But outside the gates, the whirl of commerce has overtaken Augusta National Golf Club.
Boasting the hottest ticket in sports, the badge grants entry to the Masters Tournament. Augusta National is the promised land for golf fans, and they're willing to pay and pay and pay to get there.
Ticket scalping is illegal in Georgia. It's also against policy at Augusta National. But reality where tickets are hawked on street corners and over the Internet for thousands by scores of people who go unpunished is different.
Ticket brokers estimate that 1,500 Masters admission badges are fed into the black market each year. Itıs a sellers' market in which patrons can demand 35 times the face value of a $100 badge. Brokers turn around and sell them for $5,000.
Increasingly, clients are big companies shut out of corporate sponsorships and free badges. Individuals who canıt compete pay up to $450 for $16 and $21 practice-round tickets.
The cost of a 1997 badge soared to $10,000 as golf phenomenon Tiger Woods won the green jacket. The fast-paced cash market turned deadly for one local broker, who killed himself when he realized he would lose hundreds of thousands of dollars buying badges for more than his clients had paid.
Even the man who sparked the skyrocketing prices can't fathom the demand.
"I don't understand that stuff, scalping and all that kind of thing," Mr. Woods said. "I just know I play golf and people enjoy it. It's a shame that people can't just sit back and watch it on TV. I mean, you're not going to see much anyway if you're there. There's so many people there."
The Augusta Chronicle this week explores the demand that makes a Masters badge the most coveted ticket in sports.
The hottest ticket
