The top players that will miss the 2020 Masters
We've all heard about Daniel Berger, the world's 13th ranked golfer, not being invited to play at the 2020 Masters, due to having too low an Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) position in March. So much has been made of Berger's omission, that the absence of several other top players has gone almost completely unnoticed.
It has been a long time since the field was set - so who else will not be teeing it up at Augusta National this year?
Astoundingly, six of the top-50 ranked golfers in the world, including Berger, will not participate in the final major of 2020. This would have been seven players, were it not for Kevin Streelman dropping to 51st in the latest OWGR update this week.
Joaqin Niemann and Sergio Garcia, ranked 40th and 42nd in the OWGR respectively, have both withdrawn after positive COVID-19 tests. Niemann had qualified by winning the 2019 Greenbrier Championship, while Garcia is a past-champion. Niemann is not currently qualified for the 2021 Masters, but can do so by finishing the calendar year in the top-50 of the world.
The best ranked player that won't play in Georgia, not named Daniel Berger, is Viktor Hovland. The Norwegian is currently ranked 23rd in the world, and picked up his first PGA Tour win earlier this year at the Puerto Rico Open.
His absence is almost unthinkable. In addition to his win, Hovland is currently looking like a surefire pick for the European Ryder Cup team next year at Whistling Straights, hasn't missed a cut since the Honda Classic in March, finished 20th in the 2020 season long PGA Tour points race, and in his four previous Major Championship starts, has never finished outside the Top-35, including winning low-amateur honours for a T33 finish at the 2019 Masters.
None of this was enough to grant Hovland an invite in 2020, as a result of being ranked outside of the world's top-50 players at the end of 2019. His PGA Tour win did not merit an invite, as the Puerto Rico Open is one of the few events on the PGA Tour that does not grant the winner the illustrious invitation. With his high world ranking, Hovland is almost certain to be invited to the 2021 Masters.
The next best ranked players in the field not to earn invites are Ryan Palmer and Harris English. The two Americans have both shown exceptional form since the return of golf in June, but like Hovland, were ranked outside of the top-50 in the world at the end of 2019. Palmer is currently 31st in the OWGR, and English 35th.
Since June, Palmer has totalled six top-20 finishes on the PGA Tour, and English an impressive eight. Without a win before the 2020 field was set, neither Palmer nor English received an invite to the Masters. Without a win since the return, the same is true for the 2021 event. Both will need to win, or finish the calendar year inside the top-50 of the OWGR to earn this.
One of the most impressive stories in golf in 2020 has been the emergence of Will Zalatoris. Having started the year as a full-time member on the Korn Ferry Tour, Zalatoris has now accepted special temporary membership on the PGA Tour after earning the necessary points in just five counting events.
Zalatoris began 2020 ranked 652nd in the world, 602 places short of a Masters invite. In just five starts on the PGA Tour the Wake Forest alumnus has three top-ten finishes, and four top-20's, in a run that included a T6 finish at the 2020 US Open, in what was his maiden Major Championship appearance.
None of this is enough even for a 2021 invite, however, so Zalatoris, like Palmer and English, will need to win on Tour or be inside the top-50 in the world come December 31 to receive an invitation for the event in April.
Another player that may be feeling hard done-by is Carlos Ortiz. Ortiz, in normal circumstances, would have earned a Masters invite the way Ian Poulter did in 2018 - by winning the Houston Open the week before the Masters.
Ortiz's first win on the PGA Tour has earned him an invite to the 2021 Masters, but came too late for the 2020 edition.
The players that missed out by the narrowest margins were Keegan Bradley and Eddie Pepperell, who finished 2019 ranked 51st and 52nd in the world, narrowly behind two-time Masters champion, and thus lifetime invitee, Bubba Watson. It has been a tough year - rankings-wise - for both Pepperell and Bradley, who are now ranked 102nd and 123rd in the OWGR respectively. Neither are qualified for the 2021 championship as of yet.
Special mentions must go to Rasmus Hojgaard and Sam Horsfield, who have won twice in the last 12 months on the European Tour, and will both miss the 2020 Masters. Likewise, the five year 'major champion exemption' has expired for 2014 US Open champion Martin Kaymer, meaning the German will not be involved at the Masters for the first time since 2007.
It is the story of Daniel Berger - a PGA Tour Champion in 2020, a shoe-in for the 2021 Ryder Cup, and one of the fifteen best golfers on the planet currently - missing out on an invite that will dominate the narrative, and rightfully so. The field was originally set to 96 players, but with numerous withdrawals, and the possibility of more on the way should some tests return positive, a maximum of 93 players will start this week.
Alternates and special invites are not Augusta's modus operandi, but in a year of unparalleled chaos, an exception could - and perhaps should - have been made for the likes of Berger (and Hovland), who the tournament will certainly miss.
Nobody since Angel Cabrera in 2009 has won the Masters while ranked outside of the top-50 in the OWGR. This week, more than one in ten of the top-50 players in the world are not playing.
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