Why Major Champion Mark Calcavecchia Was Kicked Off the Grounds at the 2026 Masters Tournament

There are not phones allowed on the course at Augusta National Golf Club and there are no exceptions — not even for Mark Calcavecchia, who played in The Masters 18 times from 1987 to 2008.

Calcavecchia, 65, was kicked off the grounds of Augusta National for violating the club’s no phone policy, according to a report from Golfweek. When the outlet reached him by phone, the former Open Championship winner neither confirmed nor denied what occurred.

“I’ve got nothing negative to say about Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters, so I think we should literally hang up right now,” he said, before doing exactly that.

Calcavecchia was an honorary invitee at The Masters as a former winner of The Open Championship. Winners of the PGA’s three major championships automatically qualify for The Masters for the five years after their win. When that timeframe expires, they earn non-competing invitations. Calcavecchia earned his invite in 1989.

Calcavecchia also isn’t the only golfer to get the boot for using a cell phone. Former player and Golf Channel broadcaster Charlie Rymer was thrown out for the same violation in 2011. The incident occurred when Rymer, now 58, exited the club’s media center to make a call. He reportedly broke into tears when he realized his mistake, but security was unmoved.

Rather than using personal phones, patrons at The Masters are required to use one of the club’s courtesy phones on site. They are also banned from using laptops outside of designated areas.

More recently, Arizona State University men’s golf coach Matt Thurmond was tossed from The Masters for committing a different cardinal sin — wearing shorts on the course, when he went to say hello to one of his former players.

Former ESPN anchor Kenny Mayne also revealed in February that he believes he is banned for life from Augusta for comments he made on the air.

“I used to cover golf, I used to do the TPC Sawgrass, and I did the U.S. Open every year for, I don’t know, seven or eight years,” he said in an appearance on the “God Bless Football” podcast. “It was me, [Scott] Van Pelt, Andy North, the whole gang.”

He continued, “At TPC one year, I just made some smartass comment about, ‘We’ll see you at the Masters, where we bring four saucy ladies out to play!’ Or, you know, just something stupid, right? But mentioning that I’m bringing women to play golf. And [Augusta National] called into the ESPN truck, like we’re still on the air, and the people in Augusta are literally, they somehow have the inside number to the truck. And they were like, ‘He is not coming!’ So I was never invited to go by my lords.”

The 2026 Masters Tournament officially got underway on Thursday, April 9.