Mayor Muriel Bowser, not a particular fan of golf, attended one of the most celebrated—and expensive—golf tournaments in the world last month when she spent Saturday, April 13, at the Masters in Augusta, Georgia.

And a corporation with significant D.C. business paid for it.

Bowser says she and her Senior Advisor, Beverly Perry, were guests of Jodie McLean, chief executive officer of EDENS, a national retail and mixed-use real estate company. Its D.C. area projects include Union Market, a 40-acre retail and dining space in Northeast that has benefited from the District’s tax increment financing bonds totaling more than $82.4 million, according to the Office of the Chief Financial Officer. 

Asked about the trip, EDENS spokesperson Sommer Hixson said Tuesday afternoon that she would respond to City Paper’s inquiry, but had not done so by press time.

On Wednesday morning, shortly after this story published, Hixson said in a statement that “Jodie McLean invited Mayor Bowser to the Masters, as well as arranged travel. This was done under the agreement by all parties that the expense would be reimbursed.” 

Bowser, Perry, McLean, and developer Deborah Ratner Salzberg flew on a private plane service arranged by EDENS that Saturday morning in April. The mayor says she returned Saturday night. Individual tickets for the flight alone were $5,000 to $6,000 each, according to the mayor. High-end tickets at exclusive parts of the golf course itself can run thousands of dollars more per day.

The mayor’s office, when first questioned two weeks ago, had said that the city’s Events DC office had paid for Bowser and Perry’s trip. However, sources at Events DC say this week that the convention and sports authority has yet to receive any invoices for the city officials’ expenses.

The mayor’s office has declined to release significant details of her excursion, the total costs of travel, and exclusive events she attended while at the Masters. The mayor did confirm in a phone call this week that she was the guest of the EDENS company and that she had lunch at the tournament with Russell (Rusty) Lindner, a prominent D.C. businessperson who has close ties to the University of Georgia and access to the inner-circle amenities as a member at Augusta National Golf Club.

At the Masters, sources confirm Bowser “ran into” her former chief of staff and deputy mayor John Falcicchio, who resigned a year ago amid lurid sexual misconduct. Sources say the mayor and Falcicchio spoke only briefly and that he was not part of the mayor’s entourage. Falcicchio could not be reached for comment about his Masters’ trip.

Sources say the trip was a last-minute decision by Bowser who saw a chance to mingle with some of the highest rollers in sports and finance, any of whom could be interested in boosting the mayor’s plans to develop areas around the old RFK stadium, where she also wants the NFL to return.

Perry, the longtime senior aide to the mayor, is a big fan of golf. She also is leading the mayor’s effort to get Congress to turn over about 170 acres of National Park Service land surrounding RFK Stadium so the District can develop it. Perry declined to comment on her trip with the mayor.

Salzberg and McLean are co-chairs of the mayor’s Gallery Place-Chinatown Task Force that is exploring redevelopment of the area around Capital One Arena, home to the Capitals and Wizards.

Bowser’s chief of staff, Lindsey Parker, also traveled to Augusta, but the mayor’s spokesperson says Parker paid her own way. The spokesperson says Parker’s extended family had tickets to the Masters. It’s unclear whether Parker joined the mayor in the exclusive areas inside the Masters’ gates.

The mystery about Bowser’s Masters excursion began the night before her trip. The mayor’s office, in a one-sentence revision of her public schedule for April 13, said only, “Mayor Bowser will travel to Augusta, Georgia, as part of a sports and economic development visit.” 

The secrecy surrounding the trip and reluctance by the mayor’s office over several weeks to disclose full information raises significant questions. If it were an official trip, why not announce the details of who went and who paid? If it were a personal trip, the mayor and Perry would be obligated to report it on ethics disclosure forms because it would be considered a gift above a certain amount.

Several sources familiar with the District government have wondered why Bowser’s administration has been so hesitant to fully disclose the trip, if it were, as she has claimed, truly for economic development. “Why the secrecy?” one source says.

This story has been updated with comment from EDENS.