Last week was the final week that players could earn an invitation to the 2013 Masters via the Top-50 on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR). The winner of the Valero Texas Open this week will earn an automatic invitation if he is not already in the field.
Who’s In
Four golfers started outside looking in last week and improved their ranking just enough to make the trip down Magnolia Lane next week.
D.A. Points assured that his Masters invitation would get lost in the mail by winning the Shell Houston Open. He has seven missed cuts in his ten starts thus far in 2013. His best finish was a T-63 at the Humana Challenge back in January.
He had a respectable 2012 with $1.5 million in earnings but missed 14 cuts in 29 starts. The Shell Houston Open was his second career win on the PGA Tour. He won the 2011 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am paired with Bill Murray.
Veteran Freddie Jacobson had fallen to No. 73 in the OWGR but has had a very solid beginning to the 2013 season.
He has only missed one cut this year and has three top-10 finishes. He has earned $842,000 and has moved up to No. 47 in the OWGR.
Richard Sterne from South Africa has had a phenomenal year. He is currently No. 48 in the world rankings. He finished T-7 in the Alfred Dunhill, runner-up in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and won the Joburg Open on the European Tour.
He added a T-17 at the WGC-Accenture Match Play and a T-12 at the WGC-Cadillac in the United States.
Sterne is leading the European Tour’s Race to Dubai and will make his third appearance at the Masters.
Henrik Stenson was one of the best young players in the world but has struggled the last two seasons. He had climbed to No. 5 in the OWGR in 2007 but has fallen steadily since.
His last win was the 2009 Players Championship prior to winning last fall on the European Tour at the South African Open.
Stenson will make his eighth appearance at the Masters with his best finish T-17 in both 2007 and 2008.
Who’s Out
Marcel Siem won the Trophee Hassan II in Morocco, on the European Tour last week and thought that would get him into the Masters. The 24 world ranking points that he earned left him just a few shy of the Top-50. He is ranked No. 51 and will have to continue his good play to qualify next year.
Charles Howell III is one of the hottest golfers in the world right now but will miss the 2013 Masters. He finished T-10 at the Shell Houston Open but could only get to No. 54 on the OWGR.
He has had a runner-up, a third and two other top-10 finishes in ten starts this year. He has already earned $1.3 million and is No. 8 in the FedEx Cup standings.
Howell grew up in Augusta and it has to be a big disappointment to miss the tournament this year.
Geoff Ogilvy also finished just outside the Top-50 at No. 55. He had a runner-up at the Honda Classic but has missed six cuts in his 10 starts this year.
Every player wants to earn an invitation to the Masters and stroll down Magnolia Lane. The field is limited and not everyone can make it.
Recognizing that these great players missed making it to Augusta only reinforces the extraordinary talent of Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson. They not only qualify every year but also finish high on the leaderboard.