Tickets scalpers look for badges along Washington Road in front of Augusta National Golf Club before the Masters …
Ever heard the saying "The dog ate my homework"? Some of us may have actually used that line at one point or another in an attempt to get out of doing our homework in school.
Well, folks, it looks like we got the saying wrong. Dogs apparently don't like homework; but they sure do like tickets to the Masters.
The photo you see to your right would be one of Russ Berkman's four tickets to
Looks like the dog enjoyed the ticket / Sports Radio KJR Wednesday's Masters practice round. The Seattle resident hit the jackpot and was all set to enjoy some time golfing and hanging out with a couple of buddies before heading to Augusta to take in the course and the Par-3 Contest.
It sounded like a perfect plan ... until Berkman came home to find his dog, Sierra, had eaten all four of his tickets. I guess his dog didn't appreciate being left out of the trip.
As Berkman told sports radio station KJR in Seattle, he was at a loss for words when he came home to find the strings from the tickets - and only the strings - lying on the floor.
Masters trip cancelled, right? Wrong. Berkman ended up feeding his dog hydrogen peroxide - it's safe for animals to ingest - in an effort to get his dog to puke the tickets back up. The trick worked, leaving Berkman with a pile of puke and ticket pieces.
But the story gets better. Instead of cleaning up the mess, the guy went through the puke, piecing the tickets back together in an attempt to keep to the trip on track. That's what you call dedication.
With the pieces of the tickets and photographic evidence, Berkman made the call to see if
Sierra the dog had a taste for tickets Augusta would consider giving him new passes. Thankfully, tournament officials had a sense of humour and made it easy on Berkman, reissuing him four new tickets.
If you take only one thing away from this story, make sure you never leave your Masters tickets in a spot where the family dog has access to them. Doing so could leave you with a real headache ... and lots of puke.
Jonathan Wall, Yahoo! Sports
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Photos from sports radio station KJR in Seattle - listen to the interview with Russ Berkman on their website here.