Why the highlight of Wyndham Clark’s week had nothing to do with his $2.2 million paycheck (Hint: it’s Masters-related)

Clark will make his debut at Augusta National next month.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — In honor of Players Championship week on the PGA Tour and with a tip of the cap to Gary Koch’s most famous call here, Wyndham Clark’s last week was better than most.

Sure, the reigning U.S. Open champion drained a 26-foot birdie to win the B flight of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge. That timely putt earned him $2.2 million for finishing a distant five strokes behind Scottie Scheffler, but the difference between a solo second and what otherwise would have been a T-2 with Shane Lowry was worth a cool $400,000. That alone would make for a very good week, right, and good work if you can get it.

But the highlight of Clark’s week had nothing to do with Arnie’s Place. To borrow the slogan of API presenting sponsor Mastercard, Clark’s best round of the week was priceless. His week, which began last Monday with an appearance at Wells Fargo Championship media day in Charlotte, soon got a whole lot better when Quail Hollow founder and Augusta National Golf Club member Johnny Harris flew with Clark — private, of course — to Augusta, Georgia, for his first trip around the famed Alister MacKenzie layout.

MORE: Wyndham Clark absolved of rules violation at Arnold Palmer Invitational, but not everyone agrees

“It was amazing,” Clark said. “That’s a place I always dreamed of playing at and then to do it with my dad and brother was awesome. We were walking the first couple of holes and we were just looking at each other and saying this is so cool.”

Clark already has plans to return to Augusta National with his caddie John Ellis after the Players and ramp up his preparation for his Masters debut next month.

“We’re going to play one fun round together, probably have a good bet, and then we’ll get down to business,” Clark said.

He’s not the only wide-eyed Masters rookie who has already made his maiden voyage around the course ranked third in Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses in the U.S. list. Nick Dunlap, the reigning U.S. Amateur champ and winner of The American Express in January, paid a visit late last month during the Mexico Open at Vidanta, playing for two days with another pair of first-timers Lee Hodges and Denny McCarthy and veteran Chris Kirk.

“In my opinion, it’s the most special place in the world as far as golf courses go,” Dunlap said. “There’s a different feeling about it and it took me a day and a half to where I would stop just looking around and be like, man, I’ve got to play golf here. There’s such an awe factor, I mean, just driving down Magnolia Lane and then the golf course is just perfect. It’s the most nervous I’ve been for a shot that means nothing. It’s just different.”

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Taste of the Masters 2024: Bring Augusta National to your front door for Masters week

The Taste of the Masters features a new option for fans in 2024.

If you want the Masters experience but don’t have a ticket for the first men’s major of the year, the green jackets in Georgia have you covered.

From the pimento cheese to the egg salad and bar-b-que pork, you can get the delicacies of Augusta National delivered to your door with the 2024 Taste of the Masters hosting kits.

Taste of the Masters made its debut during the November 2020 Masters that was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the kits were such a hit that Augusta National has kept the tradition alive.

New in 2024, the Classics Kit serves 4-6 people and costs $99.95. The Large Hosting Kit serves 12-14 people and costs $179.95.

Here’s what you get from both options:

The Classics Kit 

  • Pimento Cheese (24oz)
  • Plain Potato Chips (6)
  • Moon Pies (6)
  • Masters Branded Souvenir Cups (sleeve of 12)
  • Masters Branded Wax Paper (sleeve of 12 sheets)
  • Masters Coasters (pack of 12)
  • Hosting Kit Materials

Large Hosting Kit

  • Egg Salad (24oz)
  • Pimento Cheese (24oz)
  • Pork Bar-B-Que (24oz)
  • Plain Potato Chips (6)
  • Bar-B-Que Potato Chips (6)
  • Cookies (6)
  • Georgia Pecan Caramel Popcorn (6)
  • Masters Branded Souvenir Cups (sleeve of 25)
  • Masters Branded Wax Paper (sleeve of 12 sheets)
  • Masters Coasters (pack of 12)
  • Hosting Kit Materials

You can place your Taste of the Masters order here.

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Report: 2024 Masters to feature new hospitality experience outside Augusta National’s gates

Map & Flag is set to be the tournament’s first offsite hospitality venue.

Patrons with deep pockets will have a new hospitality venue to experience at the 2024 Masters.

Map & Flag – the new venue off Washington Road in Augusta, Georgia, that was teased ahead of last year’s tournament – will cost a whopping $17,000 for weekly passes according to a Sports Business Journal report on Monday. Map & Flag daily passes were not sold, but tournament badges are included with the weekly pass. Similar to the course and tournament, the new venue will also not allow cell phones on property.

Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley announced the tournament’s first official hospitality program outside the gates of Augusta National before the 2023 Masters and noted how the venue, just a short walk from Augusta National’s north gate, was created to “meet the evolving expectations of our patrons and guests.”

Map & Flag is set to feature 80 TVs as part of an “expansive food hall and high-energy sports bar” with three main dining options as well as a garden and merchandise shop.

The 2024 Masters will take place April 11-14. You can find an updated field list here.

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LIV Golf player one of three to receive special invitation to 2024 Masters from Augusta National

As of today, 83 players have been invited to compete in the first men’s major of the year.

Augusta National Golf Club announced Wednesday morning that Ryo Hisatsune, Joaquin Niemann and Thorbjorn Olesen have all accepted special invitations to compete in the upcoming 2024 Masters. Niemann will make his fifth Masters appearance, Olesen his fourth, and Hisatsune will make his debut.

“The Masters Tournament has a long-standing tradition of inviting leading international players who are not otherwise qualified,” said chairman Fred Ridley. “Today’s announcement represents the Tournament’s continued commitment towards developing interest in the game of golf across the world. We look forward to welcoming each player to Augusta National this spring.”

Niemann has been on a quest to reach the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking to play his way into the Masters field over the last few months. He has top-five finishes in three DP World Tour starts this season and won the Australian Open back in December. The Chilean also won LIV Golf’s season-opener in Mexico via a playoff with Sergio Garcia.

Olesen won the Ras Al Khaimah Championship last month for his eighth DP World Tour victory and third in as many years. Over his last seven starts he has five top-10 finishes.

Hisatsune became the first Japanese player to win Rookie of the Year on the DP World Tour last year following a season that featured a win at the French Open, his first on the tour. He’s recently finished T-11 at the American Express on the PGA Tour and also logged a T-8 and T-13 late last year at the Australian Open and Australian PGA Championship, respectively.

As of the announcement, 83 players have been invited to compete in the first men’s major of the year. With seven weeks until the Masters, players can still play their way into the field by either winning a PGA Tour event or finishing inside the top 50 of the OWGR the week prior to the tournament.

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Check out the 2024 Masters field list by qualification category

The field of players bound for Augusta National is starting to take shape.

The professional golf schedule has gotten off to a slow start this year, but fear not golf fans, because major championship season is right around the Amen Corner. That’s right, the 2024 Masters is just 50 days away.

Players still have some time to earn their way into the first men’s major of the season, whether it be through tournament wins or the Official World Golf Ranking, but the field of world-class players bound for Augusta National Golf Club is starting to take shape.

Using the 2024 qualifications for invitations, here’s the current field list of players who will be making the trip down Magnolia Lane in just under two months. Check out the field (so far) below.

Augusta National moves another tee box ahead of 2024 Masters in April

Augusta National Golf Club will have a slightly new look when players drive down Magnolia Lane this year.

Augusta National Golf Club will have a slightly new look when players drive down Magnolia Lane for the 2024 Masters.

The longest hole on the golf course, the par-5 second hole named Pink Dogwood, will now play to 585 yards after the club moved the tee box back 10 yards and to the left. The switch was quietly announced when Augusta National sent its media guide to the press on Monday.

Pink Dogwood played as the easiest hole on the course at last year’s Masters, with a scoring average of 4.637. Its cumulative ranking is second easiest with an all-time scoring average of 4.775. The last change to the hole was made in 2010 when the front of the green was widened. The tee box hasn’t been altered since 1999 when it was moved back 20-25 yards.

The alteration continues a trend of tee-box movement in recent years and follows last year’s unveiling of the new tee box on the par-5 13th, which lengthened the hole by 35 yards.

The 2024 Masters will be played April 11-14.

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Santiago de la Fuente punches Masters, British Open tickets with 2024 Latin America Amateur win

De la Fuente is a senior at the University of Houston.

A pair of major championship tickets have been punched in Panama.

Mexico’s Santiago De la Fuente shot a 6-under 64 in the final round, the low round of the day, to win the 2024 Latin America Amateur Championship at Santa Maria Golf Club in Panama City by two shots over his fellow countryman Omar Morales (69). With the victory, de la Fuente has earned a spot in both the 2024 Masters at Augusta National and 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon.

In addition to the Masters and Open, de la Fuente has also earned invitations to this summer’s Amateur Championship and the U.S. Amateur. He and Morales are also exempt to the final stage of qualifying for the U.S. Open. De la Fuente finished T-2 one shot behind champion Aaron Jarvis in 2022.

De la Fuente is a senior at the University of Houston and finished T-2 at the Argent Financial Classic earlier this fall. Morales is a junior at UCLA and finished T-1 in October at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate and finished runner-up two weeks later at the Cal Poly Invitational.

Past winners

2024 — Santiago de la Fuente

2023 — Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira

2022 — Aaron Jarvis

2021 — Canceled

2020 — Abel Gallegos

2019 — Alvaro Ortiz

2018 — Joaquín Niemann

2017 — Toto Gana

2016 — Paul Chaplet

2015 — Matias Domínguez

Augusta National chairman to Angel Cabrera: Get your visa, and you can play

Argentina’s Angel Cabrera is welcome to return the Masters, with one big catch.

Argentina’s Angel Cabrera is welcome to return the Masters, with one big catch.

In order to officially receive his invite and play in the men’s major in April, he first must obtain a visa, said Augusta National Golf Club Chairman Fred Ridley.

Speaking during a press conference at the Latin America Amateur Championship in Panama, Ridley was asked about whether Cabrera, who won the Masters in 2009 and is currently listed on the tournament website as a non-invited past champion, would be given a spot in the field as is custom to past champions.

“Angel certainly is one of our great champions,” Ridley said in one of the first questions posed to him. “As we all know, he has been unable to participate in the Masters the last couple of years due to legal issues. Presently we have been in constant contact with Angel’s representatives. He presently is not able to enter the United States. He doesn’t have a visa, and I know that that process is being worked through. We certainly wish him the best of luck with that, and we’ll definitely welcome him back if he’s able to straighten out those legal issues.”

The 54-year-old Cabrera, who served 30 months in prison in Brazil and Argentina and last played the Masters in 2019, had his visa expire this month but is attempting to regain his ability to be permitted entry to the U.S. and elsewhere.

“While competing in the Masters again is a dream, securing a visa is Angel’s priority at the moment so he can resume his professional career,” his manager, Manuel Tagle, wrote in an email to Golfweek. “We are working on getting an appointment with the U.S. Embassy in Argentina. Probably early March as his visa has expired January 2024.”

Cabrera is set to make his return to PGA Tour Champions at the Trophy Hasan II from Feb. 22-24 at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Rabat, Morocco. Cabrera doesn’t need a visa to travel to Northern Africa to play there. The PGA Tour Champions previously said his suspension had been uplifted and he was welcome to play there.

“He’s been gone for three years and served time in jail and had time for personal reflection,” PGA Tour Champions President Miller Brady told Golfweek. “It’s a bit like Jim Thorpe, who spent time in jail (for tax evasion) and was welcomed back. It’s a little different. I don’t know if he can travel in the United States because he needs a visa. I think guys forgive. I’m not sure if spouses will forgive, that’s the bigger question. But he has the right to play.”

The week after Morocco, Cabrera is expected to play in the Visa Argentina Open in Buenos Aires at Olivos Golf Club, which is being conducted for the first time as a tournament on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Golfweek also has confirmed that Cabrera has received an exemption to play in the Insperity Invitational in Houston in early May should he be granted a visa.

Cabrera played his first professional event in December since being released from jail on Aug. 4 after he completed more than two years in custody over gender violence cases against two of his ex-girlfriends. Cabrera finished T-10 at Abierto del Litoral, or the Coast Open, a tournament held in his native Argentina that has been a fixture on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica Developmental Series.

Two-time champion Bernhard Langer will play Masters for final time in 2024

Langer made his debut at Augusta National Golf Club in 1982.

Two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer will make his final trip down Magnolia Lane as a competitor this year.

Langer, 66, announced the 2024 Masters will be his last ahead of this week’s Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai in Hawaii, the first PGA Tour Champions event of the year.

“It’s exciting,” Langer told NBC Sports as part of a PGA Tour Champions season preview that will air on Golf Channel on Wednesday night, “but at the same time, I’m aware that I’m going to be hitting 3-irons and 2-hybrids when the guys are hitting 9-irons into the green, and that’s tough to compete against. But it’s a challenge, and I usually don’t shy away from challenges.”

MORE: Who we think could be future honorary starters at the Masters

The Masters champion in 1985 and 1993, Langer made his debut at Augusta National Golf Club in 1982 and will make his 41st career start later this year. The German has finished inside the top 10 eight times, most recently in 2014. His last made cut was in 2020.

One of 17 players who have won the Masters more than once, Langer is joined by the following two-time champions: Horton Smith, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Ben Crenshaw, Jose Maroa Olazabal and Bubba Watson.

Langer is a legendary pro who, after earning three PGA Tour and 42 DP World Tour wins, went on to become the greatest senior player the game has ever seen. He’s won a record 12 senior major championships and broke the record for Champions tour wins with his 46th victory at last year’s U.S. Senior Open.

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‘Augusta National Golf Club cordially invites you:’ Players share photos of their 2024 Masters invitations

For players eligible for the Masters, it’s the most wonderful time of the year.

It’s that wonderful time of year again when players start to share their Masters invitations. Augusta National will host the year’s first major in 2024 and there will surely be some drama when the week comes.

Defending champion Jon Rahm caused waves through the sporting world when he announced his move to LIV Golf on Dec. 7. The Green Jackets in Georgia have been clear that any player who qualifies for the Masters is welcome to participate. With his win, Rahm can play in the historic tournament as long as he wants.

The Masters teased the invitations on Dec. 21 and players around the game have begun to share photos of their Masters invitations. See them all below.