No offense to professional golfers, but Matt Parziale has a real job.
For most of the past five years, the 30-year-old from Brockton, Mass., one of six amateurs playing the Masters this week at Augusta National Golf Club, has been sneaking in amateur tournaments between shifts for the Brockton Fire Department.
It’s been a grind, Parziale said. All firefighters in Brockton’s Ladder Company 1 work 24-hour shifts: one day on, two days off, followed by another 24-hour shift, and then four days off.
Parziale has made it work using his days off to play amateur tournaments, often showing up to the first tee with little or no sleep.