"It only appears that the world ranking makes this more confusing than it needs to be."

In light of the revelation that Davis Love could have sat out Bay Hill and made it into the Masters, Doug Ferguson makes a case for the Official World Golf Ranking as a tool to determine Masters qualifiers:

If the 1998 criteria were still in effect, Love could have booked his reservations to Augusta National four months ago after he won at Disney for his 20th career PGA Tour victory. Then again, the Masters field would also include the likes of Parker McLachlin, Marc Turnesa, Ryan Palmer, Michael Bradley and Richard S. Johnson, all of whom won against watered-down fields.

And if the '98 criteria were used today, here are some of the players who not be eligible -- Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Rory Sabbatini, Tim Clark, Ian Poulter, Luke Donald and 54-year-old Greg Norman.

Some of them -- but not all -- would have received special invitations the Masters typically reserved for international players.