The 2018 Masters Will Feature the Smallest Field in Over 20 Years

The Masters is seen as the crowned jewel of the golf season, and a tournament that all players dream to be a part of. Despite the sentiment, however, there looks to some lack of participation this year.

It’s not like any player that wants to play in The Masters is able to, as you must qualify for an invitation to the event, but even so, there looks like there will be the lowest amount of competitors in the field for the first time in over two decades. With all of the storylines and returns to Augusta this year, that may seem like a surprise but it is a consequence of circumstance.

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After the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play event this past weekend, a few more players were able to qualify for The Masters through gaining OWGR points that put them in the top 50, which as you may know is one of the ways to punch your ticket to Augusta. Cameron Smith, Chez Reavie, Satoshi Kodaira and Dylan Frittelli were the late entries to the event, putting it at 87 participants as of this week.

View of flag over scoreboard during Sunday play at Augusta National….

View of flag over scoreboard during Sunday play at Augusta National. Fred Vuich TK5 ) Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

87 would have been a more normal amount of participants in the event but defending U.S. Open Champion Brooks Koepka announced that he would be dropping out of the event as he recovers from a wrist injury. That puts us back down to 86 contenders for the Green Jacket, with one of those spots going to the winner of the Houston Open this upcoming weekend.

One player who will be making the Houston Open even more interesting this week will be Ian Poulter because he’ll need to win the event to advance to Augusta. Poulter, who competed in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play this past week, thought he had done enough to earn a spot in The Masters before being informed that he needed one more victory in the event. He then lost to Kevin Kisner 8 & 6 in his next match. So now he needs the in Houston win to squeak into the tournament.

With the lowest number of participants since 1997, this year’s Masters could result in fewer surprise contenders in years past. But even though there is a lack of players this year, I’m sure all golfers will be looking to prove why they received their invitation.

For more here’s a full list of this year’s field including how each player qualified to play at Augusta.

Cover Image via Wiki Commons