Sports News | Fowler Among Those Still Not a Lock for Masters Invitation
Get latest articles and stories on Sports at LatestLY. For the better part of the last decade, a tradition unlike any other for Rickie Fowler was getting that envelope around the holidays inviting him to the Masters.
Augusta, Nov 18 (AP) For the better part of the last decade, a tradition unlike any other for Rickie Fowler was getting that envelope around the holidays inviting him to the Masters.
Now that's in jeopardy.
Fowler tied for 29th in the Masters and dropped two spots in the world ranking to No. 48.
He has finished every year in the top 50 since 2009, the year he turned pro, and he has not been outside the top 50 at any time since he reached the semifinals of the Match Play Championship in February 2014.
Also Read | PSL 2020 Final: Karachi Kings Beat Lahore Qalandars By Five Wickets To Lift Maiden Title.
Only one PGA Tour event remains after this week, the Mayakoba Classic on Dec. 3-6. This is no time to panic, but it is time to start contemplating the invitation list for next year's Masters, which is only five months away.
Fowler has company. Ian Poulter is at No. 47, one spot behind Lee Westwood. Both are playing the RSM Classic this week.
On the other side of the magic number is Kevin Streelman at No. 51, who also is playing the RSM Classic.
Streelman already missed one bubble. He started the FedEx Cup playoffs at No. 22 and missed out on the top 30 by nine points — anyone making the Tour Championship is in the Masters. He shot 80 in the second round of the BMW Championship and a gritty 66-69 weekend left him two shots short.
Winning a PGA Tour event that offers full FedEx Cup points also is a ticket to Augusta National, along with being in the top 50 a week before the Masters is played.
Most players would prefer to avoid that, which is why Brandt Snedeker added the Indonesia Masters three years ago. He withdrew after one round and wound up missing the 2018 Masters.
There already are 73 players in the field for next April, and with only a month of tournaments around the world, six others from the top 50 appear to be safe. That list includes Matt Kuchar at No. 32 and Justin Rose at No. 28. Both left Augusta National without being on the list just yet.
Sea Island and Mayakoba are all that remain on the PGA Tour. Europe is starting a South African swing of three events and still has the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
C.T. Pan and Corey Conners took care of next year on Sunday. Pan birdied three of his last four holes to match the low score of the final round at 68 and finished in a tie for seventh. Conners birdied the 16th and 17th holes for a 69 to tie for 10th. The top 12 are invited back.
SOLHEIM SWITCH
The LPGA Tour has gone through this before. The Ryder Cup changes years, and the Solheim Cup has little choice but to follow suit. It happened in 2001 after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, leading the Ryder Cup to move to the last week of September in 2002, one week after the Solheim Cup was planned for Interlachen.
The Ryder Cup switched to even-numbered years, and the Solheim Cup was played in 2003 in Sweden.
At least this time the Solheim Cup isn't changing as quickly.
With the Ryder Cup delayed one year by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Solheim Cup will return to even-numbered years — eventually. Next year, the Solheim Cup will be played at Inverness in Ohio, three weeks before the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.
The Solheim Cup will stick to 2023 in Spain — the same year as the Ryder Cup in Italy — and then move to 2024 to a U.S. site that hasn't been decided.
"With the world sporting schedule changing so much due to current difficulties, we felt it was in the best interest of the Solheim Cup to return to an off-year rotation with the Ryder Cup," said Dennis Baggett, executive director of the Solheim Cup.
MAJOR CUTS
No one had a better year in the majors than Dustin Johnson, who won the Masters, tied for second in the PGA Championship and tied for sixth in the U.S. Open.
He also was one of 21 players to make the cut in all three majors this year. For Webb Simpson and Xander Schauffele, it was the third straight year they made the cut in every major played.
Simpson has the longest streak of players who haven't missed a major. He missed the cut in the 2017 Masters, and has made the cut in the next 14 majors. The flip side is Tyrrell Hatton. He made the cut in every major in 2018 and 2019.
This year, he was among six players who didn't make a cut in any of the three majors. The others were Matt Kuchar, Henrik Stenson, Graeme McDowell, Andrew Putnam and Max Homa. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)