Ernie Els and Retief Goosen enter the 2012 season without any assurances of playing in the Masters. The field for the Masters took shape today after the final official week of golf tournaments around the world. Among the criteria for an invitation is to be among the top 50 in the world ranking at the end of the season.
Els, a three-time major champion who has suffered plenty of heartaches at Augusta National, fell to No 56 in the final ranking. Els has been eligible for the Masters every year since his debut in 1994. Goosen, a two-time US Open champion, is at No 53.
Jim Furyk narrowly claimed a spot in the Masters, to be played April 5-8, when he finished at No 50. Furyk began the year at No 5 in the world.
Others who got into the Masters through the world ranking were Ian Poulter, Paul Casey, Alvaro Quiros, K.T. Kim, Simon Dyson, Sang-moon Bae, Rickie Fowler, Francesco Molinari, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano.
Els and Goosen still can get in by winning a PGA Tour event before the Masters (except those tournaments held opposite World Golf Championships), or by getting into the top 50 in the world ranking published the week before the Masters.
Others who have yet to qualify include Ryo Ishikawa (No 51), Ben Crane (No 54), Ryan Moore (No 57), Matteo Manassero (No 58) and Robert Allenby (No 59). Further down the ranking are Anthony Kim (No 75) and Camilo Villegas (No 89).
The field for the 77th Masters is at least 91 players, depending on how many former champions choose to compete. The Masters has the smallest field of the four majors, and the club prefers that no more than 100 players tee it up.
A year ago, the field going into the new season also was at 91 players, and there were 99 players in the final field. The last time the Masters field topped 100 players was in 1966, when there were 103 competitors. Meanwhile, Greg Chalmers, Australian golf's man of the moment, has narrowly missed direct entry to the Masters.
Chalmers has ended 2011 at No 60 in the world rankings after a spectacular summer highlighted by victories at the Australian Open and Australian PGA championships. Chalmers will need to win on the US PGA Tour before April to book his ticket to Augusta.
If he fails to break his decade-long drought on the premier US Tour, the 38-year-old West Australian left-hander must be in the world's top 50 after the Arnold Palmer Invitational held two weeks before the Masters.
Chalmers, who was languishing outside the top 200 before his Australian Open triumph last month, has only played at Augusta once, missing the halfway cut in 2001.
Allenby, 40, has contested the past 11 Masters events, for four missed cuts and a best placing of tied 29th in 2002, but his streak may be coming to an end. World No 5 Adam Scott and the eighth-ranked Jason Day, who finished joint runners-up this year South African Charl Schwartzel, will head Australia's 2012 Masters challenge.
Geoff Ogilvy, ranked 36th, John Senden (43rd) and Aaron Baddeley (46th) will also be striving to become the first Australian to don the famous green jacket after clinching automatic entry.