Vandalia Butler grad gearing up for Masters appearance

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AUGUSTA, GA. — Vandalia Butler High School grad Austin Greaser is gearing up for the most prestigious golf tournament.

Greaser finished second at the U.S. Amateur in 2021 to earn a spot in this year’s U.S. Open and Masters.

“Augusta’s the coolest place in the world,” Greaser said. “They’ve got the leaderboard up, they’ve got the ropes up, there’s more and more people starting to show up.”

When he got his official invitation in the mail it was a dream come true. By the time he tees of Thursday at 8:11 a.m. Greaser will have played the course 8 times in practice rounds.

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“It’s very, very special place,” Greaser said. “It’s really hard to put into words. I’ve used a couple that I guess I like. It’s very surreal, it’s very mesmerizing, it almost feels like a video game.”

Walking and playing Augusta National helps Greaser take in the historical company he joins by competing in the Masters.

“Being able to get here, walk where literally all the greats have walked,” Greaser said. “I think one of the coolest walks for me is across the Hogan Bridge on 12. The reason is because everybody else can walk all the parts of Augusta except across Rae’s Creek. You’re in a very, very small company when you walk across Hogan’s Bridge, no patrons can go there.”

From the moment he finished 2nd at the U.S. Amateur to when he got his official invitation, and now getting ready for the tournament Greaser has said he’s heard from a lot of friends back in Vandalia.

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“I really appreciate all of the texts. I’m getting a lot of support. I said this after the U.S. Amateur but more than I could probably ever imagine. I’m getting a lot of texts, getting a lot of support, and I really, really appreciate everybody reaching out to me. I’ll get back to them as soon as I can. Quite a bit of support and it’s really cool to see, I didn’t know that many people liked me.”

Greaser is a junior at North Carolina and said he’s taking this time now to concentrate on the tournament. Ultimately he’d like to wear the green jacket but this could just be the first step in long, successful career.

“I want to come out of it and learn a lot of things about myself. I want to learn how I stack up against the best. I want to learn what I need to work on my game moving forward and I want to learn on what I need to do to get back here as fast as I can.”

Greaser is going to play in the same group as Mike Weir and Padraig Harrington. They will be the 3rd group off the tee Thursday morning.