AUGUSTA, Ga. – After Brandon Holtz won the U.S. Mid-Amateur, he was asked to donate a club to the USGA Golf Museum. For Holtz, he chose the club most responsible for his victory, his driver.
Holtz used the 8-degree Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond with a Ventus Black 7X shaft to drive the green on the 34th hole of his 3-and-2 win over Jeg Coughlin III in the championship match last September at Troon Country Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. Then he said goodbye to the club, shipping it off to Liberty Corner, New Jersey, to be enshrined forever – or so everyone thought.
Fast forward to Tuesday’s practice round at Augusta National Golf Club, and Holtz, the 39-year-old former college basketball player at Illinois State, had been hitting his new driver so badly ahead of his Masters debut that he had a friend reach out to USGA CEO Mike Whan for help.
Nick Bova, the director of golf at Hamilton Farm Golf Club in Gladstone, New Jersey, texted Whan shortly after 4 p.m. ET Tuesday, asking if there was any way Holtz could get the driver back. Whan immediately reached out to a USGA staffer, who rushed to the museum, grabbed the club and arrived at UPS just in time for the final overnight shipment.
The club was scheduled to arrive in Augusta, Georgia, on Wednesday morning.