Re-Thinking The Year-End World Top 50 Masters Invite

It seems like inside-the-Beltway stuff but the Masters exempting the Official World Golf Ranking's top 50 has many ramifications, most of them negative.

Doug Ferguson makes a case for the Masters taking the top 50 closer to the tournament.

The top 50 at the end of the preceding year received invitations, along with the top 50 a month before the Masters. Starting in 2003, the final cutoff was moved to one week before the Masters.

The club has never said why it takes the top 50 at the end of a calendar year. Perhaps it's so players can make travel arrangements, or perhaps it was to give an advantage to overseas players, who compete deep into the year. PGA Tour members have more avenues to qualify throughout the season.

But imagine what would happen if there was only one cutoff for the top 50 in the world, and it followed the Florida swing.

Matteo Manassero (51), Branden Grace (57), David Lynn (65) and Peter Hanson (70) all were in the top 50 in December. They would have spent the Florida swing trying to stay in the top 50 or move back in. That change might be something for Augusta National to consider if it feels the field is getting too close to 100 players.

Getting In The Masters Mood: Podcast Edition

It was my great privilege to appear on Mitch Laurence's Golf Connections show to discuss the run-up to the Masters, but I'd evn more strongly recommend listening to his recent pre-Masters shows with Ben Wright, Frank Christian and John Derr. (Scott Michaux had a great piece on Derr last year.)

The Masters memories are flowing, and it's a treat to hear what these grizzled veterans of all things Augusta have to say.

I explain all and link to the shows here in this GolfDigest.com Local Knowledge item.

Silly Me: Ike's Replacement Likely In The Works

Here I was reserving an opinion on what to do with the fallen Eisenhower Tree at Augusta National, thinking we'd probably have the 2014 Masters to carefully consider the future of the 17th. After all, one of the top five architectural atrocities of all time has occurred on this hole, when Hootie Johnson and Tom Fazio littered the sides of the fairway with Christmas trees in one of the most heinous acts defying the legacy of Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie. Not to mention, plugging gaps that allowed the horrifying recovery shots of Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman in 1986.

Heaven forbid that would happen again!

The trees have remained and are beneath ANGC in ways that are hard to explain to those who can't fathom what Bobby Jones was all about.

Anyway, you all have spoken: replace Ike's tree, with 420 votes cast it's 58% to 42% in favor of a replacement and I'm pretty sure of the large variety.

As I write in a Local Knowledge post, what could have been going through my mind? This was a done deal the minute the specimen had to go: Augusta National almost assuredly had a plan to replace it.