Notebook: Closure to Scott Stallings's Masters Saga, Keegan Bradley's Diet and Sepp Straka's Ryder Cup Hopes
KAPALUA, Hawaii — Scott Stallings knew he was going to get invited to the Masters after making the top 30 in the FedEx Cup playoffs.
But Augusta National is a tricky place and while it doesn't play tricks on players, it does have specific rules for everyone and to play in the Masters, you need an invitation.
Scott Stallings finally got his Masters invitation in the mail and is hooking up the Scott Stallings who originally received it.
Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports
So, when the packages were opened for Christmas and the kids' caddie bibs for the trip to Augusta were on display for all to see, Stallings was still looking for his Masters invitation—which he presumed was wrapped by his wife in a box amongst the presents.
It wasn’t, and Stallings was a bit miffed.
“I thought she had given it to me for Christmas with my kids' presents, like the caddie uniforms,” Stallings said. “That's what I thought she was doing, so then we got the caddie uniforms and there is no invitation, and I was like OK, it's somewhere.”
Stallings pressed his wife and pushed to be leveled with.
“She said '100% I did not, I do not have it,'" he said.
The story of the missing Masters invitation ended when another Scott Stallings in Georgia received the invitation in the mail and then got in touch with the real Stallings and sent along the invitation to him.
In gratitude, Stallings has secured Masters practice round tickets and invitations to the Tennessee Golf Federation charity dinner on Monday night.
“Nice to get a chance to meet him in person and say thanks,” Stallings said. “I mean, he could have put that on his mantel, and we’d never ever see it, ever.”
More Meat In, Less Meat On for Keegan
When Keegan Bradley came out of St. John's, he was a lean, mean, fighting machine. That was in 2011 and he won twice that year, including in the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club in a playoff over Jason Dufner.
Over time, the sleek frame started to show some bulges and eventually the finely tuned machine didn’t work as well, causing Bradley to reassess.
So, after the BMW Championship in August, Bradley, who was feeling fatigued on the course and lethargic at times, decided to go on a strict carnivore diet that included cardio as the exercise component.
“If it walks, swims or flies, you can eat it and I did a lot of fruit as well,” Bradley said of his new diet. “So, I'd have eggs in the morning, maybe chicken or ground beef and then steak at night. All grass-fed meat is the key, and no condiments and no sides.”
Bradley has gone from 220 to 190, gaining a couple of pounds over the holidays, but now is at his goal.
His diet now allows for a starch or two, but controlled consumption.
“I feel like I play my best golf when I'm super-lean, kind of like when I first came out on tour, and I feel like my swing a lot better when I'm super-lean,” said Bradley, who opened with a 3-under 70 at Kapalua. “And that's why I did it.”
His new approach was also a main contributor to his win at the Zozo in Japan last year.
“At Zozo, coming down the stretch, I felt so good and that whole week, I felt so good,” Bradley said. “Even at CJ Cup, the week after with no sleep, jet lag, I put a good week together. And I just felt like years passed.”
Sepp Straka Hopes Ryder Cup Is in His Future
Sepp Straka plays on the PGA Tour, but he hopes in September he will be playing in Rome in the Ryder Cup for Europe.
Born in Austria, Straka’s claim to fame was leading the first round of the Men’s Olympic golf competition in Tokyo 2020.
That was the beginning of Straka’s game seeing limited success until he finally got over the line with a victory at the 2022 Honda Classic and finished seventh in the FedEx Cup.
The win is the reason Straka is in Hawaii this week and is ultimately why he will be in Abu Dhabi next week playing in the Hero Cup, an event staged to help European Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald to assess and put together pairings that may work in Rome.
The Great Britain & Ireland team will be captained by Tommy Fleetwood and Europe will be captained by Francesco Molinari, with Donald overseeing the teams.
“Just try to keep playing good golf, and whatever happens happens, you can't really force that,” Straka said of playing in the Ryder Cup. “We got the Hero Cup next week in Abu Dhabi and playing in that to kind of get some preparation and see what the formats are like."
Straka knows most of the guys in Abu Dhabi next week, with most players spending a considerable amount of time on the PGA Tour. But team competition will be what Straka is going to experience.
“I've been talking a little bit of trash even though I'm obviously not on the team yet, a little bit of trash to some guys on the American side,” said Straka, who opened with a 71 Thursday. “So yeah, should be fun.”