The Masters already has the smallest field of any of the four majors and it could be heading for its lowest number of player invitations in nearly 40-years at next April’s 90th anniversary hosting.
Sixty-six players are already exempt, while 11 more will receive a New-Year letter postmarked ‘Augusta, GA’ for being inside the top-50 of the World Rankings.
That would bring the total number of invitations to 77, which could make it the lowest field since 1985 when the same number teed-up. It was also the year Germany’s Bernhard Langer, dressed all in red, was fitted for the first of two Augusta Green Jackets at the Georgia golfing gem.
The 11 set to to be inside the top 50 in the world rankings at year’s end are Ryan Fox, Min Woo Lee, Denny McCarthy, Will Zalatoris, Justin Rose, Harris English, Cole, JT Poston, Adrian Meronk, Adam Hadwin and Dane Nicolai Højgaard, who will secure the last 2023 invitation currently ranked World No. 50,
Four others – Luke List, Erik van Rooyen, Camilo Villegas and Ludvig Aberg – earned invitations by winning PGA Tour events in the this year’s FedExCup Fall season.
One additional Augusta qualifier will be the winner of the Latin American Amateur Championship in January.
Scotland’s Sandy Lyle, winner of 1988 Masters, will be one of the notable absentees when the tournament proper gets underway. Lyle made his Masters debut in 1980 and announced this year, after missing a ninth 36-hole cut in succession, he would no longer be competing thus ending a 42-year competitive streak at the year’s first major.
Of course, there will be 14 PGA Tour events between January and the the first week in April for those otherwise not exempt, to qualify for the Masters.
Those at Augusta National may also offer ‘special’ invitations to players to tee-up in the Masters.
Looking back from the maiden Masters in 1934, there has been just three occasions where there was more than 100 starters – 1957 (101), 1962 (109) and 1968 (103).
The lowest number of competitors came in 1938 and 1942, when only 42 players teed up in each, with the United States involvement in World War II leading to a three-year gap in competition.
Even after the war ended, the fields were still low, ranging from 51 in 1946 to 58 in 1949. The 1950s saw numbers increase – 72 in 1952, 78 in both 1954 and ’55, while 1956 boasted a Masters field of 84, before the highwater mark of 108 in 1962.
Since the 109 who teed-up in 1962, the highest number competing inside the ropes was 99 in 2011.
Whereas, over the past six years (2018-2023) the average Masters field has been 89 players.
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