I ended up back page news in the US after I somehow went to the WRONG Augusta – so have sympathy for viral footballer

THE STORY about footballer Lewis White going to the wrong Bury sounds funny – unless you’re a golf correspondent who has travelled to the wrong Augusta!

That is exactly what happened to me when I flew to the USA to cover the Masters for the Sun for the third time.

Footballer Lewis White went viral for travelling to the wrong BuryGetty

Golf reporter David Facey made US news when he travelled to the wrong Augusta

GettyHe was supposed to be heading to Georgia for the Masters[/caption]

He instead ended up over 1,000 miles away in Maine

I’m up to 27 Masters in a row now, and almost a quarter of a century after my 1,500 mile detour I still can’t live it down.

White was ‘only’ 200 miles off track, and that sort of thing happens more often than you think.

There was another famous occasion when Earl Spencer’s teenaged daughter hired a taxi to take her to Stamford Bridge to watch Chelsea take on Arsenal – and ended up in the village of Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire.

That meant she finished up 246 miles away from her intended destination. Embarrassing, but I still think my ill-fated trip takes the biscuit.

Instead of flying into sunny Georgia, I ended up freezing in snowbound Augusta, Maine.

The reality of the situation only dawned on me after I had decided to change into a pair of shorts during a brief stopover in Boston, to get ready for the 80-odd degrees forecast for the start of Masters week.

There were a few funny looks flashed my way as I took my place on the 12-seater heading for Augusta.

And as we started flying deeper into the snow-covered countryside, I realised why.

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I approached the only flight attendant and he confirmed our destination was pretty much the northern-most tip of the United States — with a population of under 20,000.

It was hardly a hub for connecting flights.

By the time we landed, my predicament had been explained to the pilot and co-pilot, who offered to drive me 55 miles to Portland, his home and Maine’s biggest city.

I could get a flight from there to Atlanta and either drive or catch a connecting flight to the correct Augusta.

When I phoned our travel company’s 24-hour line, it seemed nothing else could go wrong.

I asked them to book me into the Portland Holiday Inn.

They booked me into the Holiday Inn in Portland, Oregon, on the other side of the country!

I was able to complete my journey the following day — only to encounter a welcoming committee when I arrived at the media centre.

I had explained to a few colleagues why I’d be a day late and the story spread like wildfire.

The reporter from the Boston Globe interviewed me, and the ‘Lost Limey’ was back page news.

That was in 2001 and I’m still being pointed out as ‘the guy who went to Augusta, Maine by mistake’.

The 2001 Masters was the year that Tiger Woods held off David Duval and Phil Mickelson to complete the Tiger Slam — the only time any player has ever held all four Majors at the same time.

Come on, how could anyone forget something like that?

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