Last week, Rory McIlroy signed autographs and posed for pictures with his adoring fans at The K Club in Ireland before winning the Irish Open for the second time in dramatic fashion. He likely was asked to sign so many Masters yellow flag that he’s on the verge of carpal tunnel syndrome. But it’s unlikely he applied his John Hancock to anything as rare as the item he signed at the Tour Championship.
That’s where McIlroy added his signature to an Augusta National Golf Club scorecard with the autographs of all the previous members of the exclusive career Grand Slam club – Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods before him – which McIlroy joined in April with his sudden-death victory over Justin Rose at the Masters.
Dustin Raymond is a golf memorabilia collector and has carried that Augusta National scorecard to golf tournaments for 30 years. Raymond bought it from a friend, who obtained Sarazen, Hogan and Player on it and sold it to Raymond for $1,500 some 20 years ago when he left the memorabilia business. The friend chose Raymond to be the buyer because he knew Raymond would keep it current.
Raymond landed Nicklaus before chasing Tiger’s sig for several decades. He was up-to-date until McIlroy’s heroics. At Wednesday’s practice round Aug. 20 at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Raymond interacted with McIlroy as he played the seventh and eighth holes, and the Northern Irishman promised to sign after the ninth hole, which would be the final hole of his practice round.
McIlroy was good to his word. When he got hold of the scorecard and realized what he was holding, McIlroy marveled at it and was honored to add his name to a precious item.
“He said, ‘Man if that’s for sale, I’m your buyer. I haven’t seen anything like this at all. That’s the first thing I’ve ever seen that has those names on it altogether,’ ” Raymond recounted that McIlroy said.
If McIlroy is to be believed, it’s the first of its kind with all six signatures.
“What an amazing piece!” wrote Ryan Carey, founder and president of Golden Age Auctions, in an email. “At auction, this would sell for at least $50,000.”
Raymond is aware of several other Masters scorecards with the previous five members of the career Grand Slam club. Some of them were involved in a lawsuit in the early 2000s when Arnold Palmer, Nicklaus and Woods took Bruce Matthews of Gotta Have it Sports to court.
Raymond isn’t in the market to sell his scorecard and said he would keep it tucked away in a safe place until membership in the career Grand Slam club grows again. Phil Mickelson (U.S. Open), Jordan Spieth (PGA Championship) and Scottie Scheffler (U.S. Open) need one more leg of the Grand Slam to join the club.
McIlroy made it abundantly clear as to whom he believes will be the next name Raymond will be pursuing before too long as he added his signature.
“I’m going to sign it extra high so Scottie has extra space underneath me,” he said.
