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 last October to earn a spot. But he's also a firefighter.
He has been a firefighter since 2014 at the Brockton Fire Department in Massachusetts, but told Golfworld he’s 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 in Lakeland, Fla., where he played from 2006-2009, earning three-time All-American honors 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. And it's paid off. He’s earned the Massachusetts Men’s Player of the Year three times since 2014.
Last summer, Parziale sandwiched an overnight shift at the fire department in between the second and third rounds of the Francis Ouimet Memorial Tournament, which he won by a stroke, according to Golfworld.