THERE MUST BE SYMPATHY FOR THE ENORMOUS BURDEN THAT SECURING AND MANAGING IMPORTANT COLLECTIONS IMPOSES.
absolutely needed the provenance of the jacket to proceed. Cornett agreed wholeheartedly, as he didn’t want any part of a nefarious sale. The Chicago collector offered the name right away: Globensky. If Augusta National did not suspect their former ware- house worker earlier, Cornett’s text dated St Patrick’s Day 2022 confirms this was their lucky day. The wealthy friend simply said they were “good to go.” The problem was the collector wasn’t that motivated to sell. He was wintering in Arizona, playing golf in short sleeves, and couldn’t this just wait until May when he’d be back in Chicago? Still undecided whether he’d be the buyer or the middleman, Cornett kept peppering the sense of urgency until it was agreed that the collector’s adult son would fly from Florida on March 31 to oversee the transaction, collect- ing an additional $10 000 fee for his trouble. The agreed-on price was $1.65 million. While the jacket was going to Cor- nett, who had arranged the deal and sent a $250 000 deposit, the wealthy friend had indicated he might offer Cornett $3.65 million, although there was never intention of that or any amount changing hands. Looking back, Cornett says he should have realised the wealthy friend was working with the FBI. First, there was his insistence that the jacket only travel home on a private jet. “Maybe the FBI didn’t want to risk causing a scene in a public place?” Cornett theorises. Also, “I felt like our phone calls were being recorded because there was always a delay when we started talking about the jacket, which then went away after we stopped talking about the jacket.” Perhaps most tellingly, the day of the deal his friend showed up to
PARALLEL PRIZE Globenksy stole and sold a replica Masters trophy without the winners’ names engraved.
jacket in short order. “U sitting down?” Cornett teased his rich friend by text. He’d photo-matched the stitched label against the famous photo of Nick- laus putting the jacket on Palmer in 1964, where in exuberance or wind or a combination of both, the jacket flares very wide to reveal the label of the mak- er, Hart, Schaffner & Marx, beneath the handwritten ink name in all-caps: “AR- NOLD PALMER.” Prime and muscular Palmer, this had to be the same jacket from his first Masters victory in 1958 being slipped on in the winner’s cer- emony for The King’s fourth and final time. Cornett advised it’d be a waste of a week and about $6 000 to use a photo- resolution company to verify further. Cheekily, Cornett, a five-handicap, added: “So what are the chances we can just split the jacket 50/50 and we give it to Augusta National in exchange for membership.” Turning the conversation back to serious, the wealthy friend explained cost wouldn’t be an issue, but he
the Chicago collector. Justin Cornett is a sports memorabilia collector living in Houston who has been profiled numerous times, with the profilers often comparing his discipline for investing with head over heart to what made him a successful oil and gas broker. At the end of 2021, Cornett received a call from a fellow baseball and basketball card aficionado who also happened to be very wealthy and connected. He wanted Cornett’s help finding the missing Palmer jacket. The network of high net-worth indi- viduals who buy expensive golf memo- rabilia isn’t large, so Cornett located the collector who’d bought Palmer’s
second their gates opened Monday morning. Where was the leak? Internal investigations into supply chains produced nothing. Rightly and earned, Augusta National has a reputa- tion for conducting the greatest golf event in the world with an exactitude metaphorised by no blade of grass nor grain of sand out of place. That such theft could happen right under its nose contradicts this ideal. Yet, there must be sympathy for the enormous burden that securing and managing im- portant collections imposes. And what about the tradition, core to golf but also the South, of just trusting people? In 2021, after 14 years in the warehouse without a negative performance review, Globenksy was terminated for what he contends was mundane post-pandemic workforce realign- ment politics. For certain, it had nothing to do with why he should’ve been fired much earlier. It was later that year that Augusta National began working directly with the FBI. The sting began when they laid the trap to smoke out
HEIST IN PARADISE A guard stands sentry at Magnolia Lane, the iconic entrance of Augusta National.
KEY DATES ACROSS 18 YEARS
2007 Brendan Globenksy starts working at Augusta National warehouse.
2009 Globensky posts merchandise for sale on eBay.
2009-2021 Globensky sells
2010 Augusta National declares “possessory rights” to all green jackets.
2011 Globensky begins stealing historical items from the warehouse.
2011 Claiming honest origin, The Golf Auction sells Ben Hogan’s jacket to a collector .
2012 or 2013 The Golf Auction sells Arnold Palmer’s jacket to the same collector.
2017 Augusta National sues an auction company over trademark and alleged stolen property, but missing Palmer jacket is not mentioned.
2021 Globensky is terminated at Augusta National for reasons unrelated to theft.
Late 2021 Augusta National begins working with the FBI.
stolen merchandise to the website MMO, which resells for a markup.
90 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 91
MARCH/APRIL 2026
MARCH/APRIL 2026
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