It was a bad day all around Tuesday for scalpers of practice-round tickets to the Masters Tournament.
As scalpers watched the bottom fall out of the market for tickets, Richmond County sheriff's undercover deputies bagged eight arrests for scalping.
``That would probably be the biggest number of arrests in one day'' for scalping in Augusta, said sheriff's Chief Deputy Ronald Strength.
In addition, officers seized more than $30,000 in cash.
Arrested on a single misdemeanor charge of scalping were Kevin Hayes, 36, of New Orleans; Mourad Messerian, 35, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Robin Triuisonno, 35, of Fairview, N.J.; Celine Salamone, 27, of Alexandria, Va.; George Panagoulis, 35, of Indian Rocks Beach, Fla.; Ronald Cohen, 52, of Selbyville, Del.; David Grimes, 31, of Atlanta; and James Marshall, 29, of Houston.
The increase in arrests may be because there are more scalpers on Washington Road near Augusta National Golf Club and to scalpers taking a more brazen approach, Chief Deputy Strength said.
``These folks are easy to spot and they're right out in the open, more so than in years past,'' he said.
Trafficking on Washington Road visibly slowed as the arrests were made. ``They were able to see us take people into custody and that threw up a red flag, and it showed,'' he said.
The difference was striking Tuesday morning from the beehive of trading during Monday's practice rounds.
Even without the arrests, the scalpers seemed to draw less interest from arriving golf fans, most of whom were already wearing Tuesday's yellow practice-round ticket.
And Tuesday's prices never lived up to the $200 range that was predicted Monday. That led to some panic selling.
``We're getting smoked,'' said Ron, 22, a scalper from Tuscaloosa, Ala. ``We've got $140 seats (tickets) and we're selling 'em for $100, $75. I just sold one for $65. We're losing $85 per seat (badge).''
``There's no walk-up business,'' complained another scalper from St. Petersburg, Fla. ``Everybody's losing money.''
Many fans reacted to scalper demands the way Brad Newberry of Marietta, Ga., did.
``What do you want, my pension fund?'' he told one scalper asking $75 apiece. The face value of a ticket to Tuesday's practice round was $16.
Surveying the crowd that dwindled early Tuesday, Jim Staton of Aiken said he thought it was one of the smaller turnouts he'd seen since he started coming to Masters practice rounds in 1983.
``It doesn't seem like a lot of people,'' he said as he rebuffed scalper advances while searching for a reasonably priced ticket. ``Maybe they're getting turned off by the high prices.''
The poor street demand may translate into better prices for the tournament itself, a handful of scalpers confirmed. The going price on Tuesday for a four-day tournament badge was $2,000, and may drop even more if 1997 Masters champion Tiger Woods does not do well, scalpers said.
Practice rounds conclude today at the Par-3 Contest, and tournament play begins Thursday. The face value of a four-day tournament badge is $100, although the black-market price as late as last week was $5,000.
``Some guys will be getting in for $500'' for the final two rounds of the tournament on Saturday and Sunday, Ron said.
But he probably won't be around to see it.
``I'll probably leave (today),'' he said. ``There's no money to be made here.''
Tuesday bad day for scalpers