April 6, 2020

The Masters is rescheduled

When: November 9 - 15, 2020

Statement from Chairman Ridley:

"We have identified Nov 9-15 as the intended dates to host the 2020 Masters. We hope the anticipation of staging the Tournament brings a moment of joy to the Augusta community and those who love the game."

Monday's announcement of the reconfigured schedule offered no guarantees, only something to anticipate. And that's will have to do for now, considering no one is even sure when golf or any other sport will resume because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Augusta National is all about white dogwoods and pink azaleas. The Masters is a sure signal of spring. It was supposed to end on Easter. Now it will start two weeks before Thanksgiving.

The club closes every year in May - it closed in March this year due to the new coronavirus - and the grass goes dormant until it is overseeded with rye ahead of the re-opening in October.

Chairman Fred Ridley said Augusta National ''identified'' Nov. 12-15 as the intended dates. Was that because the later date improved chances of a return to normal in sports, or because an extra month would allow the course to be the best it can be? Maybe a little of both.

''I don't think it would be all that different other than the obvious aesthetic differences between spring and fall,'' Immelman said. ''The massive wild card is Mother Nature. ... That change in temperature along with the possibility of that northerly wind that can blow is going to be the big difference.''

The Masters not only set a new date, but it also filled out its field - 96 players, regardless of what happens until November. Four players were added to the field by being among the top 50 in the world - McDowell, Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler, and Christiaan Bezuidenhout.

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April 8, 2019

The last man invited to The Masters

Corey Conners claimed his first PGA Tour victory and earned an invite to the Masters on Sunday, winning the Valero Texas Open less than a week after qualifying.

Conners is having a decent season, having finished second at the Sanderson Farms Championship and T-3 at the Sony Open. But he's playing this season on conditional status, meaning that even with those results he had to head to a Monday qualifier to try to earn one of the last four spots in the field at TPC San Antonio. He qualified, then the Canadian shocked the field in the final round with 10 birdies and his first career PGA Tour victory.

The win brings with it the 87th and final spot in next week's Masters. It also means he won't have to worry about any more Monday qualifiers until at least 2022.

''My wife got an email this morning letting her know we could check in for our flight back home,'' Conners said. ''I told her, 'Aw, don't check in yet. Maybe we can make other plans.' Big change of plans. It was going to be an off week. I'm glad it won't be.''

Conners played in the Masters just once before, missing the cut in 2015 as an amateur after losing in the finals of the 2014 U.S. Amateur. He became the first player to go from Monday qualifier to the winner's circle on Tour since Arjun Atwal won the 2010 Wyndham Championship.

Ran DeBord - All Access Sporting News

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The 2019 Masters

Who's gonna be playing?

The 87 players who are eligible and expected to play in the 83rd Masters, which starts Thursday. Players listed only in the first category for which they are eligible.

MASTERS CHAMPIONS: Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, Danny Willett, Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, Adam Scott, Charl Schwartzel, Phil Mickelson, Angel Cabrera, Trevor Immelman, Zach Johnson, Tiger Woods, Mike Weir, Vijay Singh, Jose Maria Olazabal, Bernhard Langer, Fred Couples, Ian Woosnam, Sandy Lyle, Larry Mize.

U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONS (five years): Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Martin Kaymer.

BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONS (five years): Francesco Molinari, Henrik Stenson, Rory McIlroy.

PGA CHAMPIONS (five years): Justin Thomas, Jimmy Walker, Jason Day.

PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS (three years): Webb Simpson, Si Woo Kim.

U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPION AND RUNNER-UP: a-Viktor Hovland, a-Devon Bling.

BRITISH AMATEUR CHAMPION: a-Jovan Rebula.

ASIA-PACIFIC AMATEUR CHAMPION: a-Takumi Kanaya.

LATIN AMERICA AMATEUR CHAMPION: a-Alvaro Ortiz.

U.S. MID-AMATEUR CHAMPION: a-Kevin O'Connell.

TOP 12 AND TIES-2018 MASTERS: Rickie Fowler, Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Tony Finau, Charley Hoffman, Louis Oosthuizen, Justin Rose.

TOP FOUR AND TIES-2018 U.S. OPEN: Tommy Fleetwood.

TOP FOUR AND TIES-2018 BRITISH OPEN: Kevin Kisner, Xander Schauffele.

TOP FOUR AND TIES-2018 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: Stewart Cink.

PGA TOUR WINNERS SINCE 2018 MASTERS (FULL FEDEX CUP POINTS AWARDED): Satoshi Kodaira, Andrew Landry, Aaron Wise, Bryson DeChambeau, Kevin Na, Michael Kim, Brandt Snedeker, Keegan Bradley, Kevin Tway, Matt Kuchar, Charles Howell III, Adam Long, J.B. Holmes, Keith Mitchell, Paul Casey, Corey Conners.

FIELD FROM THE 2018 TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP: Billy Horschel, Patrick Cantlay, Kyle Stanley, Hideki Matsuyama, Gary Woodland, Patton Kizzire.

TOP 50 FROM FINAL WORLD RANKING IN 2018: Alex Noren, Tyrrell Hatton, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Eddie Pepperell, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Matt Fitzpatrick, Ian Poulter, Li Haotong, Thorbjorn Olesen, Matt Wallace, Lucas Bjerregaard, Emiliano Grillo, Branden Grace.

TOP 50 FROM WORLD RANKING ON MARCH 31: Justin Harding, Shane Lowry.

SPECIAL INVITATION: Shigo Imahira.

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