Masters' Infatuation With All Things Asia Becomes Officially Ridiculous

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The exemption they gave Ryo Ishakawa was debatable, but at least he had won some decent tournaments. Last year's to Lliang Wen-Chong was also a bit of a stretch, but a nice gesture I suppose.

But giving a spot to an amateur tournament that has never been played, as they have announced in a weird joint R&A deal, is just nonsense when you consider that (A) the R&A is not exempting the winner to the Open Championship and (B) the winner of any number of amateur tournaments would be far more likely to provide a quality player with a chance of making the cut (NCAA Individual Champ before the coaches shortened it to 54-holes, the European Amateur, etc...).

I know, I know, those events don't sell TV rights to Asia like this will. Yada, yada.