Lucas Glover held down the fiftieth spot within the closing world rating of the yr, making him one among 10 gamers who can be added to the invitation checklist to play within the Masters.
The sector has eight extra gamers than it did presently a yr in the past.
The Masters takes the highest 50 within the Official World Golf Rating on the finish of the calendar yr, and it’ll take the highest 50 not already invited from the world rating revealed per week earlier than the match is held April 10-13.
The addition of the ten gamers brings the sphere to 85 gamers who’re eligible and anticipated to play. There have been 77 gamers who had been eligible presently a yr in the past, a distinction that will level to weaker fields within the PGA Tour’s FedExCup Fall.
The Masters has the smallest subject of the 4 majors, and Augusta Nationwide prefers that it stays beneath 100 to present gamers an expertise in contrast to another. It final topped 100 gamers in 1966, when there have been 103 gamers within the subject.
The Masters had 89 gamers this yr.
Glover had dipped exterior the highest 50 in the previous few weeks, however the rating relies on a system that measures a two-year interval with factors progressively dropping worth.
Tom Kim at No. 21 was the highest-ranked participant who had not already certified. The others to get in by the world rating are Nick Dunlap, Max Greyserman, Rasmus Hojgaard, Jason Day, Corey Conners, Denny McCarthy, Justin Rose and Min Woo Lee.
It was the second straight yr McCarthy and Lee earned spots within the Masters by the year-end world rating. Neither has gained on the PGA Tour.
A yr in the past, 4 gamers from the 77 who had certified by the top of the yr earned invites by profitable PGA Tour occasions within the fall. This yr, all eight fall winners weren’t eligible after they gained tournaments.
5 of these fall winners — Matt McCarty, Kevin Yu, Nico Echavarria, Rafael Campos and Maverick McNealy — can be taking part in the Masters for the primary time.
The PGA Tour went again to a calendar schedule for 2024, with a number of massive occasions (together with the Olympics) packed into the schedule. Many of the high gamers didn’t enter a PGA Tour occasion over the past three months of the yr.
The Masters will add to the sphere with the Latin America Beginner Championship winner, any winner of a PGA Tour occasion that gives full FedExCup factors, and the highest 50 from the world rating revealed on March 31. Fourteen tournaments will provide an invite earlier than the Masters.
Augusta Nationwide additionally might select to make use of a particular invitation. It provided three final yr, together with one to Joaquin Niemann of LIV Golf, noting his victory within the Australian Open and one other high end in Australia in his effort to play worldwide.
Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark additionally obtained a particular invitation as a result of he performed totally on the European tour. The membership traditionally isn’t that favorable to PGA Tour members as a result of they’ve extra avenues to get in.
Amongst those that missed out on the highest 50 was Nicolai Hojgaard, who shot 76 on the ultimate day at Augusta this yr and tied for sixteenth. Hojgaard, who performed within the Ryder Cup in 2023, missed by one shot qualifying for the Masters within the class that takes the highest 12 finishers.
His twin brother, Rasmus Hojgaard, will make his debut in April.