COMMUNITY

Neither of them deserved to be there, and Ernie at least said as much.

I agree, but my whole point was they invited someone with a very low ranking in the main things in golf. Every one on the tour has talent, but Ishikawa hasn't even played well in the states yet. I would have rather seen Ernie Els than Ishikawa anyway, but to see these stats just really made me say "What the heck were the thinking?"

Golf is so much about the rules of the game. Some get changed at the start of each season. As the rules went Ernie could not go. Sorry to say that, I think he is a great guy and golfer and has been playing very well.

Like I said in a forum a few weeks ago, I'm fine if you don't give Ernie an exemption, but why in the hell do you give one to Ishikawa if you don't give one to Els? Ishikawa's going nowhere. Winning on the Japanese Tour only gets you so far.

Another problem is that there is a great deal of deadweight taking up valuble space in the Masters field. Six amateurs, plus the lifetime exemption players, including Olazabal, Mize, Langer, Woosnam, Crenshaw, Stadler, and Lyle, equals a lot of wasted slots in the field. Patrick Cantlay, low amateur and an accomplished player, was still a whopping 17 strokes off the pace.

I would cap the number of amateurs at four, maximum, (one from Europe, one from Asia, and two winners from American amateur tournaments) and change the lifetime exemption to a ten year exemption. (The lifetime exemption is one of several stupid Masters traditions IMO.) Then Mike Weir, who hasn't even had a top 50 PGA finish in the last two years, can also be cut from the field after next year. I would, however, extend the exemption another three years (or something to that effect) to those (non-automatic qualifiers) who finish in the top 25 or so, so that older, but still competitive champions such as Fred Couples can continue to play.

If you get rid of the dead weight, then there's space for both Els and Ishikawa, and other good pros, who I'd give a much better chance of winning than Sandy Lyle, for example, to compete at Augusta.

Not sure I agree, you look at Jack who finished T6 in 1998 at the age of 58, and then Watson who finished T17 in 2010 at the age of 60. I don't know, I like the fact the all time winners can come back and play. Same with the amateurs. Bobby Jones never went pro, so I'm sure Augusta has a soft spot for the amateurs for that reason.

Cog is dead on regarding amateur golfers. Bobby Jones was a career amateur and those spots are a tribute to the man himself. They are a reminder that not all players play for a paycheck, and that some play for the love of the game. You take away the amateurs and you lose a very important piece of what makes the Masters one of the greatest sporting events in the world.

As for Els, I think he didn't get an invite because the press was begging for one for him. The best way to get rejected by Augusta National is to beg for something. Ask Martha Burke, or the CEO of IBM who will most likely become a member when the press dies down. Nobody's ever made
Augusta do anything, even if it was the right thing.

That used to be the case. Not so any longer. The last real "amateur" was Buddy Marucci, who played Tiger in the 1995 US Amateur finals and coached the last US Walker Cup team. Of all six amatuers who played this year, one is turning pro this week, and four will turn pro within a year. Only USGA Mid-Amateur champion Randell Lewis at 54 years old will not turn pro. If anyone besides his wife and kids cared about following him around to watch him shoot 15-over and go home, they should take Jerry's advice and switch the channel to baseball! The rest of them have no intention of playing "for the love of the game". They are only waiting for most opportune time to turn pro and make tons of cash. That's not what Bobby Jones was about.

Back in the day, when there really were good amateurs who played "for the love of the game", it may have made sense to invite multiple amateurs. If the Masters wants to continue to honor their founder by inviting amateurs, fine. But they should limit it to the US Amateur and British Amateur champions, both events which were won by Jones as part of his Grand Slam.

Same with the US Open, and the PGA Championship, which invites a bunch of club pros. It adds nothing to the competition.

It's like letting a few D-Flight 30 handicap division players into the Championship Flight of your local club championship. It may make a few people feel good, but it accomplishes nothing.

Cog, they gave an invitation to Ishikawa to enhance Asian interest in the tournament specifically, and golf generally. It's not so difficult to understand.

Cog, Jack was still competing professionally in 1998, as was (is) Watson in 2010. Under Birdie's sceneario, they would be able to compete as long as their play met a certain threshold. Sure it was nice to see some old guys play, but there comes a point when they're nothing more than like propping up poor old Dick Clark on New Year's Eve.

I know. But if you're not going to do anything better than 9 over than what's the point. 3 over-50 players finished better than him, not including Weir and Olazabel, as did 3 amateurs.

I think what they should do is keep the lifetime exemption so they can return to Augusta and play in the par 3 if they want or play in the masters, but they should at some point declare they are not going to play in the tournament anymore and then that should open up a slot for another player.

Not disagreeing with you, just pointing out why they extended the invite to Ishikawa.

Good idea.

Or maybe a policy along the lines of after reaching 50, once you miss five consecutive cuts, you're out of the main tournament.

But remember the uproar it caused a few years ago when they sent the letter "uninviting" players over 65?