Tag: 2020 masters field

Masters 2020: Who is helped and who is hurt by a postponed tournament?

There are three camps affected by the postponement: those it helped and others it hurt. The form of the third group has not changed much.

There are three camps of players affected by the seven-month postponement of the 2020 Masters Tournament from April to this week.

There are those it helped and others it hurt. The form of the third group is about the same as it was in the spring.

Among those who have benefited from the break are Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Collin Morikawa.

Sergio Garcia, who won on the PGA Tour in early October for the first time since the 2017 Masters, would have also been in that group but had to withdraw Monday after a positive COVID-19 test.

Heading the list of those happy to see a postponed Masters was Johnson, the world’s No. 1-ranked player. Johnson missed much of the fall after knee surgery and wasn’t playing to his standards heading into the Masters.

After the three-month PGA Tour break due to the virus, he came back in late June to win the Travelers Championship, finish second in the PGA Championship and win the Northern Trust by 11 shots with a 30-under score. Johnson closed the season by winning the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup, and being named PGA Tour Player of the Year.

In the fall, Johnson did miss two events leading up to Augusta after a positive COVID-19 test, then returned last week to tie for second in Houston.

The three-month pause helped DeChambeau because it allowed him to put on weight and increase his swing speed. After the PGA Tour returned, DeChambeau won the Rocket Mortgage Classic in early July, tied for fourth in at the PGA Championship in August and cruised to a six-shot victory in September in the U.S. Open at Winged Foot.

He is now the favorite to win the 84th Masters.

In November 2019, Koepka re-injured the left knee he’d had surgery on in September and had to sit out for three months. When he returned in mid-February, less than two months before the scheduled Masters, he played three times, without much success, before the PGA Tour shut down.

As for the 23-year-old Morikawa, he would have still been a rising star if the Masters had been played in April. But he became a major champion when he won the PGA Championship in August at Harding Park. He’ll be making his Masters debut this week as the fourth-ranked player in the world.

Not so welcome change

Players who might been hurt by the later date are Adam Scott and Rory McIlroy.

Both were riding high in mid-March, with the Masters just a month away at the time.

Before the Players Championship was canceled after the first round on March 12, McIlroy had finished in the top five in six consecutive tournaments, including a victory in the HSBC Champions. Since the tour resumed play June 11, McIlroy has had only two top-10 finishes (T-8s in the U.S. Open and the Tour Championship) in 12 starts.

Scott had ended a nearly four-year victory drought on the PGA Tour by winning the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in mid-February. He beat a top-heavy field that featured nine of the top 10 players in the world.

“It’s exciting to think about going back there (the Masters) and having another chance to have another win,” he said in March. “I’ve got a high level of comfort playing there.”

After tying for 32nd in the 2018 Masters, Scott rebounded last year. He opened with 69-68 and was tied for the 36-hole lead. He closed with 72-73 and tied for 18th.

But Scott struggled to continue his strong form after play resumed. Then, before the Zozo Championship on Oct. 22, he was sidelined with a positive COVID-19 test and quarantined for 10 days.

“I think it’s been very challenging for me personally, and I’m not going to sit here and complain about how difficult it’s been,” Scott said on Monday. “I was in good form back then in the spring, and because of all the circumstances, it’s really affected my preparation and my practice, and many things since returning.”

Scott returned at the Houston Open last week, where he tied for 32nd.

“But coming back here this week, since testing positive, last week wasn’t too bad,” the Australian said. “There was a lot of good stuff in there, and hopefully the work that I have done and been able to do the last couple of months will accumulate and I’ll be able to finish the year with a bang here this week. But certainly my form hasn’t been as good since, but it’s been very … everything’s been very inconsistent.”

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Graeme McDowell, Collin Morikawa among four joining 2020 Masters field

Graeme McDowell, Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler and Christiaan Bezuidenhout were the final four to qualify for the Masters in November.

Buried beneath the news that Augusta National Golf Club “intends” to play the Masters during the week of November 9-15, the club announced that invites would be sent to professionals and amateurs who “would have qualified for our original April date.”

Subsequently, the club updated its invitee list on Masters.com and the field for the tournament is set with 96 invitees. That includes Graeme McDowell, who finished a career-best T-12 at Augusta in 2012 yet hasn’t played in the Masters since 2016, as well as first-timers Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler and Christiaan Bezuidenhout.

Those four players became eligible through category 19 of the 19 qualifications standards, squeezing inside the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings as of March 30.

McDowell was on the outside looking in as the deadline loomed, but even though the Players Championship was canceled, he vaulted from No. 51 after the Arnold Palmer Invitational to No. 49 during the final week of rankings. The move came just before the OWGR froze the rankings as professional golf tournaments were canceled and postponed around the globe due to coronavirus.

Morikawa, World No. 44, was No. 1039 after his pro debut at the RBC Canadian Open in June and climbed into the top 100 for the first time after winning the opposite-field Barracuda Championship. He jumped seven spots after finishing T-9 at API.

Scheffler, World No. 45, had been flirting with the top 50 ever since he finished third at The American Express to jump to No. 51, and he finally broke through with a T-15 at API.

The South African Bezuidenhout, World No. 47, rode a runner-up finish at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and victory at the Dimension Data Pro-Am into the top 50 and held his turf with solid finishes at the WGC Mexico Championship (T-29) and API (T-18).

“We want to emphasize that our future plans are incumbent upon favorable counsel and direction from health officials,” Augusta National club chairman Fred Ridley wrote on Monday. “Provided that occurs and we can conduct the 2020 Masters, we intend to invite those professionals and amateurs who would have qualified for our original April date.”

The total of 96 invitees is larger than the field at the last two Masters, which consisted of 87.

A spokesperson for the Masters confirmed that any winners of PGA Tour events leading up to the November date for the 84th Masters will only be eligible for the 2021 Masters in April. That presents a scenario where a player could win multiple times in the lead up to November — potentially both the PGA Championship and U.S. Open — and not be in the field at the Masters.