Kendrick Brinson for The New York Times

AUGUSTA, Ga. — On Wednesday night security forces at Augusta National keep an eye on the bushes around the club’s more than 350 acres. They are looking for fans hiding after Wednesday’s practice round, fans who hope to remain unseen until they can blend into the arriving crowd Thursday morning for the first round of the Masters.

Attempts are made every year. Most of the fans, perhaps no more than a handful, are caught and ejected from the grounds. But some probably succeed, club employees concede, although no one knows how many. Augusta National officials do not comment on security, but club employees and security guards in conversations over the years have described how maintenance workers on the course, as well as the occasional security patrol, will look for unusual activity or noise overnight, especially in the far reaches of the grounds. Admission to the Masters is prized, with tickets on the resale market fetching up to $1,000 for one day.

While these golf stowaways might try to spend the night before any of the tournament’s four rounds, it is attempted most often on Wednesdays, the night after the final practice round. Spectators with practice-round tickets often do not have tickets for the competition rounds. And spectators with competition round access usually have tickets for all four rounds or have been given tickets for that round and would not risk getting caught because it would most likely mean a permanent loss of ticket privileges for whoever provided the ticket.



A successful Wednesday night golf stowaway would have to display a badge from the wrong day during Thursday’s round, or no badge at all, but if careful, it might not be too hard to remain undetected in the swarming crowd of the tournament.

There is one hazard to this overnight ploy, and club employees laugh when they tell of it. Under the bushes, especially in the less traveled parts of the golf course, there are snakes. Sometimes the hideaways do not get caught — they give themselves up.