Lucas Glover sits 50th in the final world rankings for the year, making him one of 10 players who will be added to the invitation list to compete at the Masters.
The peloton has eight more players than a year ago at the same time.
The Masters will occupy the top 50 of the official world golf rankings at the end of the calendar year, and it will occupy the not yet invited top 50 of the world rankings published a week before the tournament takes place, from April 10 to 13.
The addition of the 10 players brings the field to 85 players eligible and expected to play. A year ago, there were 77 players eligible at the same time, a difference that would indicate weaker fields in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Fall.
The Masters has the smallest field of the four majors, and Augusta National prefers to keep it below 100 to give players an experience like no other. It last topped 100 players in 1966, when there were 103 players on the field.
The Masters had 89 players this year.
Glover had fallen out of the top 50 in recent weeks, but the rankings are based on a formula that measures a two-year period with points gradually losing value.
Tom Kim, at 21st, was the highest-ranked player who had not yet qualified. Others to make the world rankings are Nick Dunlap, Max Greyserman, Rasmus Hojgaard, Jason Day, Corey Conners, Denny McCarthy, Justin Rose and Min Woo Lee.
It was the second year in a row that McCarthy and Lee earned a spot at the Masters thanks to the year-end world rankings. Neither has won on the PGA Tour.
A year ago, four players out of the 77 who qualified at the end of the year earned invitations by winning PGA Tour events in the fall. This year, the eight fall winners were ineligible when winning tournaments.
Five of those fall winners – Matt McCarty, Kevin Yu, Nico Echavarria, Rafael Campos and Maverick McNealy – will play the Masters for the first time.
The PGA Tour has returned to a 2024 schedule, with several major events (including the Olympics) on the calendar. Most of the top players did not play in a PGA Tour event in the last three months of the year.
The Masters will add the winner of the Latin American Amateur Championship to the field, with any winner of a PGA Tour event providing full FedEx Cup points and the top 50 in the world rankings released March 31. Fourteen tournaments will offer a pre-tournament invitation. Masters.
Augusta National could also choose to use a special invitation. He gifted three last year, including one to LIV Golf’s Joaquin Niemann, highlighting his Australian Open victory and another strong ranking in Australia in his efforts to play around the world.
Thorbjorn Olesen from Denmark also received a special invitation as he played mainly on the European tour. Historically, the club is not very friendly to PGA Tour members because they have more opportunities to enter.
Among those who missed the top 50 was Nicolai Hojgaard, who shot 76 on the final day at Augusta this year and finished tied for 16th. Hojgaard, who played in the Ryder Cup in 2023, suddenly missed qualifying for the Masters in the category which brings together the first 12.
His twin brother, Rasmus Hojgaard, will debut in April.
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