Who Will You See in The Masters in 2016?
Will the 2016 Masters set the tone for the season in the same way that Jordan Spieth’s Augusta victory did in 2015?
Last year’s Masters, with Jordan Spieth’s victory, seemed to set the tone for the rest of the season. Rickie Fowler at The Players. Spieth winning again at the U.S. Open. Spieth taking up the challenge – publicly – of trying to match Ben Hogan’s 1953 when Hogan won the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open. Jason Day challenging all season and finally pulling out the victory at the PGA. And finally Spieth going for it all at the end of the season at the Tour Championship. It’s going to be hard to top 2015.
And though it’s still three months, a week and two days – give or take — until golfers drive down Magnolia Lane, that doesn’t mean we can’t think about who will join Spieth at Augusta National.
There are already nearly 90 players who will receive an invitation to the tournament. It’s a specified list. Now in addition, there are a lot of champions who are invited to attend who are not playing. So it’s good atmosphere, but only the select few will tee it up.
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Masters Champions, of course, head the list.
That could include:
Fuzzy Zoeller, Tom Watson, Craig Stadler, Ben Crenshaw, Bernhard Langer, Larry Mize, Sandy Lyle, Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam, Fred Couples, Jose Maria Olazabal, Tiger Woods (if health permits), Mark O’Meara, Vijay Singh, Mike Weir, Phil Mickelson, Zach Johnson, Trevor Immelman, Charl Schwartzel, Bubba Watson, Adam Scott and of course, Spieth. (22)
Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player will be there as honorary starters, not players.
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The last five U.S. Open champs get a ticket to play, and that includes Martin Kaymer, Justin Rose, Webb Simpson and Rory McIlroy. (26)
The last five British Open champs not already on the list adds Ernie Els and Darren Clarke. The last five PGA Champs includes Jason Day, Jason Dufner and Keegan Bradley. (30)
The Players champs for the last three years get invited and that means Rickie Fowler will attend. (31)
PGA Tour winners since last year’s Masters will also find themselves at Augusta and that includes Jim Furyk, Jimmy Walker, Steven Bowditch, Chris Kirk, David Lingmirth, Fabian Gomez, Troy Merritt, Shane Lowry, Danny Lee, Davis Love III, Emiliano Grillo, Smylie Kaufman, Justin Thomas, Russell Knox, Graeme McDowell and Kevin Kisner. (48)
Amateurs are invited to the Masters, but just a few of them. The U.S. Amateur champ, Bryson DeChambeau and runner up Derek Bard will get an invitation. The current British Amateur champ, Romain Langasque, will be there. The U.S Mid-Amateur champ, Sammy Schmitz, also gets a chance to participate. (52)
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There are other amateurs from around the world including the Asia Pacific Amateur champ, Jin Cheng. One recent winner of that event is Hideki Matsuyama who is a PGA Tour winner now. Matias Dominguez, current Latin America Amateur Champion will be at Augusta National. (54)
Now there are also categories for finishes in majors such as the Masters where the top 12 from 2015 will play in 2016. That includes Hideki Matsuyama, Paul Casey, Dustin Johnson, Ian Poulter, Charley Hoffman, Hunter Mahan, Bill Haas, Ryan Moore, Kevin Na and Kevin Streelmen. (64)
Though not on the earlier lists, Louis Oosthuizen finished in the top 4 (and ties) in the U.S. Open, which earns him a spot. Brandon Grace was similarly placed in the PGA Championship. The British Open top five all qualified some other way. (66)
The 30 who made it to the Tour Championship last season are on the invitation list including Henrik Stenson, J.B. Holmes, Matt Kuchar, Daniel Berger, Robert Streb, Sang-Moon Bae (now in Korean military) and Harris English. (72)
The Masters also takes the top 50 in the world as of the end of 2015, and since there are no tournaments played this week, that’s already decided. That list includes:
Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, Danny Willett, Byeong Hun An, Thongchai Jaidee, Bernd Wiesberger, Victor Dubuisson, Andy Sullivan, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Billy Horschel, Anirban Lahiri, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Chris Wood, Soren Kjeldsen, Jamie Donaldson, and Brandt Snedeker. Lee Westwood , according to Golf.com, will jump into 50th place when Chris Kirk, who is already in, loses some points allowing Westwood to get into the tournament. (89)
In all, that’s 89 players, and Tiger Woods makes 90. However, there are potentially 13 additional names that could come as a result of winning PGA Tour events beginning with the Hyundai Tournament of Champions and going through the Shell Houston Open.
Next: Predicting Winners for the 2016 Major Championships
Finally, anyone not on the list in those categories has until the week before the Masters to enter the top 50 in the world rankings and gain last minute entrance.