USA TODAY International Edition
He’s a firefighter — and playing the Masters
For some golfers, playing the Masters is the most pressure they have ever faced. For Matt Parziale, it’s nothing like his day job.
Parziale, 30, will play in his first Masters at Augusta National this week after winning the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship in October to earn a spot. But he’s also a firefighter.
He has been a firefighter since 2014 with the Brockton Fire Department in Massachusetts but told Golfworld he has wanted to be a golfer since he was a kid, crediting Tiger Woods for his passion for the game.
His golf game took off at Southeastern University, a school in Lakeland, Fla., where he played from 2006 to 2009, earning All-American honors three times and an individual national championship. After graduating, he spent three years on the mini-tours before deciding to become a firefighter, according to a report on AmateurGolf.com. His father, Vic Parziale, was captain at the Brockton Fire Department and worked for 32 years before retiring.
Part of the reason Parziale became a firefighter was because it allowed him time to work on his golf game. It’s paid off. He has earned the Massachusetts Men’s Player of the Year honor three times since 2014.
Last summer, Parziale sandwiched an overnight shift at the fire department between the second and third rounds of the Francis Ouimet Memorial Tournament, which he won by a stroke, according to Golfworld.
He’s taken a leave from the fire department to prepare for this week. Parziale’s dad will be his caddie, just as he was at the Mid-Amateur Championship.
Vic told Matt after the Mid-Am that he didn’t think he could caddie for him at the Masters. “And I said, ‘What do you mean?’ ” Matt Parziale told reporters Monday. “And he said, ‘I can’t read the putts.’ But he hasn’t read a putt for me in 12 years, so I don’t know why he thought he would start now.
“We have had a great time together. He’s probably been doing it 15 years for me. So it’s a blast. We don’t really talk about golf out there, just other stuff, and we have a lot of fun.”
He was able to play Augusta National with a local caddie on his bag, and the two worked together for five days.
“People have asked the first time I came, you see it on TV, you have high expectations, usually things don’t meet those expectations,” Parziale said Monday. “This exceeded them. So it’s been so much fun playing it. I’ve been fortunate enough to play a few rounds and just trying to find the best way to play, and it’s been a lot of fun preparing.”
Parziale told reporters Woods reached out to him after the Mid-Amateur. He said it’s possible the two could play a practice round Wednesday. “But he’s in high demand, so we’ll see if that happens. And I understand if that doesn’t happen,” said Parziale, who also qualified for the U.S. Open with his MidAmateur title.
“He sent me a letter after I had won (the Mid-Am). And that was incredible to receive, just because I had I grew up watching him. And, I mean, I played competitive golf because I was able to watch him growing up.”
No amateur has won the Masters, and the last to finish second was Charles Coe in 1961. Last year Stewart Hagestad, who qualified as the Mid-Amateur champ like Parziale, was the low amateur at 6-over-par 294.