Brockton, Mass., and Augusta National are not synonymous, nor necessarily even compatible. One is blue collar, the other the color of money, as different as Washington Road and Magnolia Lane.
Augusta National is urbane, refined, haughty. Brockton is hardy, its chin sturdy, a town capable of taking a punch, but also of throwing one. Augusta is Bobby Jones, gentleman lawyer. Brockton is Rocky Marciano, its favorite son, 43 KOs on a perfect 49-bout boxing ledger.
So what does Augusta National have to do with Brockton? Nothing, if the club had its druthers, the cynic might say. Cynicism aside, it is a tribute to both Augusta National and the USGA that a Masters invitation landed in a Brockton mailbox on Christmas Eve.
USPS = Santa Clause. The Best Christmas Present. #TheMasters #christmas #christmaseve #teddy pic.twitter.com/kromXhOCpt
— Matt Parziale (@Matt_Parziale) December 24, 2017
Parziale, 31, is a bona fide blue-collar worker, a firefighter with Ladder Company 1 of the Brockton Fire Department, the seventh busiest ladder in the country. His Masters invitation was extended by virtue of his having won the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship on the Capital City Club’s Crabapple Course in Atlanta last October.
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