Who needs a win to get the final Masters invitation? Last-chance dreams still come true

“I blocked it out of my head all day Sunday, and as soon as I made the putt to win, my mind was immediately like, ‘Oh my God, we’re going to Augusta tonight,” Wagner said. “This will be interesting to figure out.”

Especially interesting because Wagner and his wife, Katie, then traveled from tournament to tournament in a motor home.

“As I’m walking off the 18th green with my caddie, I hug my wife and my agent was right there,” Wagner said. “So before even signing my scorecard, he came up to me and walked with me for about 15 yards and said, ‘I’ve got a driver lined up to take your RV to Augusta, I’ve got a private plane for you, me, your caddie and your wife, and we’re going to head to Augusta as soon as you finish your media obligations.”

Team Wagner celebrated on the airplane, and they were able to crash in an Augusta-area home that night. The next day the motor home arrived, and Wagner soon was on his way down Magnolia Lane.

“It was like this euphoric rush of emotion the whole week,” Wagner said. “It was the most incredible experience of my life, other than getting married and the birth of my children.”

While he wasn’t really in contention at Augusta, Wagner made the cut by two shots and finished in a tie for 36th. His only regret was being unable to win one of the crystal goblets that gets handed out to anyone who makes an eagle.

The same scenario is in play this week for most of the players in the field, among them 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland and 2018 Open Champion Francesco Molinari. The five-year exemption that came with those championships has expired, and both are in the field looking to take advantage of their last chance.

Woodland, who returned this season from brain surgery, said, “Obviously we all want to be in the majors. I’ve been a staple in the majors really since 2011, and that’s what I’m out here to do is play and win those tournaments, but right now I’m trying to focus and get through today.”

Others facing the same reality include Masters regulars such as 2012 U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson, Matt Kuchar and Rickie Fowler, along with a slew of aspiring younger players who have never played in the Masters. This is their final chance.

“That’s always the dream you have playing out here,” said Mac Meissner, a 26-year-old Texan in his second full season on the PGA Tour. “The goal is always to win out here.”

Wagner will be back at Augusta National next week as a TV analyst, a role to which he seamlessly transitioned after having enough self-awareness to realize his prime days as a competitor were vanishing. Wagner jumped at the chance when offered a trial week on Golf Central and was good enough to be invited back.

“I never looked back,” he said. “It’s sad a little bit because I love competing, but I haven’t legitimately thought about playing a tournament since.”

Now, with his trademark mustache — which he first grew in 2012 — Wagner’s face is recognized throughout the world, more than ever before when he was a soldier on the PGA Tour.

“I think my best year was 2012, had a really nice season, but it’s not even one-hundredth of the amount I get recognized now from being on TV,” he said. “I wasn’t on TV unless I was winning or in contention on Sunday. Now I’m on TV every day and I get way more recognized, and I have a much better appreciation for it than I ever did before.”