Christmas came early for Adam Hadwin.
The Canadian didn’t play last week, but he was the beneficiary of some Official World Golf Ranking math when the final worldwide events of 2019 were completed. Hadwin is currently 49th but will end the year ranked exactly 50th, fractionally ahead of former PGA champ Keegan Bradley.
It’s an important distinction since the top 50 in the year-end rankings earn invitations to the Masters. Joining Hadwin in qualifying for the first major of 2020 are world No. 40 Jazz Janewattananond, who has won two straight events in Asia, along with Masters debutants Victor Perez, Andrew Putnam and Erik van Rooyen.
Meanwhile players like Bradley, No. 52 Eddie Pepperell and No. 53 Cameron Smith will have to find another way down Magnolia Lane. Outside of receiving a special invitation from the tournament committee, the only remaining criteria for professionals to qualify are to win a full-FedExCup point PGA Tour event before the Masters or finish inside the top 50 when the world rankings are published on April 6.
With the inclusion of Hadwin, Janewattananond and others, the current Masters field is up to 88 participants – already one more player than competed last year when Tiger Woods won. Here’s a look at the players who can already book their travel to Augusta, with players who qualify under multiple criteria listed under the first metric by which they qualify:
Former Masters champions (expected to compete)
Angel Cabrera
Fred Couples
Sergio Garcia
Trevor Immelman
Zach Johnson
Bernhard Langer
Sandy Lyle
Phil Mickelson
Larry Mize
Jose Maria Olazabal
Patrick Reed
Charl Schwartzel
Adam Scott
Vijay Singh
Jordan Spieth
Bubba Watson
Mike Weir
Danny Willett
Tiger Woods
U.S. Open champions (last five years)
Dustin Johnson
Brooks Koepka
Gary Woodland
Open champions (last five years)
Henrik Stenson
Francesco Molinari
Shane Lowry
PGA champions (last five years)
Jason Day
Jimmy Walker
Justin Thomas
Players champions (last three years)
Si Woo Kim
Rory McIlroy
Webb Simpson
Current U.S. Amateur champion and runner-up
John Augenstein (a)
Andy Ogletree (a)
Current British Amateur champion
James Sugrue (a)
Current Asia-Pacific Amateur champion
Yuxin Lin (a)
Current U.S. Mid-Amateur champion
Lukas Michel (a)
First 12 players, including ties, at the 2019 Masters
Patrick Cantlay
Tony Finau
Rickie Fowler
Justin Harding
Matt Kuchar
Ian Poulter
Jon Rahm
Xander Schauffele
First four players, including ties, at the 2019 U.S. Open
Chez Reavie
Justin Rose
First four players, including ties, at the 2019 Open
Tommy Fleetwood
Lee Westwood
First four players, including ties, at the 2019 PGA Championship
Matt Wallace
Winners of full-point PGA Tour events since 2019 Masters
Cameron Champ
Tyler Duncan
Dylan Frittelli
Lanto Griffin
Max Homa
Sung Kang
Nate Lashley
Sebastian Munoz
Kevin Na
Joaquin Niemann
C.T. Pan
J.T. Poston
Brendon Todd
Matthew Wolff
Qualifiers for the 2019 Tour Championship
Abraham Ancer
Paul Casey
Corey Conners
Bryson DeChambeau
Lucas Glover
Charles Howell III
Sungjae Im
Kevin Kisner
Jason Kokrak
Marc Leishman
Hideki Matsuyama
Louis Oosthuizen
Brandt Snedeker
Top 50 in the final Official World Golf Rankings of 2019
Byeong-Hun An
Rafa Cabrera-Bello
Matthew Fitzpatrick
Adam Hadwin
Tyrrell Hatton
Billy Horschel
Shugo Imahira
Jazz Janewattananond
Victor Perez
Andrew Putnam
Erik van Rooyen
Bernd Wiesberger