I’m a 39-year-old real-estate agent who just played in the Masters. It’s

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Brandon Holtz won the 2025 U.S. Mid-Amateur to qualify for a spot in the Masters. He shot 15-over and missed the cut. He lives in Bloomington, Ill., with his family. 

I’m pretty sure I could see my heart beating through my chest on the first tee. 

Just to even be on the practice green with those guys was surreal. Then I walked up and saw my name on the board. I played with Bubba Watson, a past Masters champion, and Nico Echavarria, who has had a heck of a year. And then they called my name. 

I looked at my dad and was like: This is real stuff, man. Here we are.

I’m a 39-year-old real estate agent. For me to be there was super unlikely. In a little bit of fairness to myself, I’m ranked somewhere around 3,000 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. But I’ve only played in one USGA event and I’m one for one. 

That was the 2025 U.S. Mid-Am, which I won in September and got me my spot at the Masters. As I understood it, the invitation would come sometime around Christmas. That’s exactly what happened. 

My son and I were outside shoveling snow in the driveway. The delivery guy shows up and gives me a tearaway envelope and I knew that had to be it. It was just a simple one-card invitation.

Big things come in small packages, right?

I played college basketball at Illinois State and was always first in the gym, last out. I just never gave up. If I wasn’t good at it, I wasn’t going to do whatever it took to be good at it.

I kind of had that never-give-up attitude.

Golf had always been secondary for me, but when I graduated from college, I still felt I had a competitive drive in my bucket.  I said: Alright, I just got done with basketball. I’ve still got to find something to do. Let’s try golf for a couple of years. 

I tried the mini tours and played professionally from 2010 to 2014, but it wasn’t anything sanctioned. I wasn’t sponsored in any way. I was just doing it on my own. The goal was to play for two years, and if I got better, I’d keep going. 

I made it to year four and then realized it was time to give it up.

I still kept my pro status. People would ask me: “Oh, you’ve got your pro card?” Well, you don’t really have a card. Actually, maybe if you’re on the PGA Tour you do, I don’t know. I was never on the Korn Ferry or the PGA Tour. But I kept my professional status because it was fun to play in the Illinois Open every year. I had some success too, got second a couple of times.

But I got to the point where I just wasn’t playing or practicing enough. I was playing in only one event a year. I had a good group of buddies, and I wanted to get my amateur status back so I could go play in amateur events with them. You know, have fun and talk some garbage.

The intention of getting my amateur status back was never winning the Mid-Am. That was not in my sights at all.

I played five…