Before learning on Sunday that he had earned an invitation to the Masters, John Daly took a few moments to let the Augusta National folks know he didn't much care for their exemption criteria.
Daly wondered how a tournament winner on the PGA Tour could be left out, while Lian-Wei Zhang, ranked 168th in the world, was given an invitation. Zhang will become the first Chinese golfer to play in the Masters, and earned his way largely because of his victory in 2003 at the Singapore Masters.
"How many Americans played in the Singapore Open?" said Daly, not knowing the correct name of the tournament and probably unaware that Zhang birdied the last hole to defeat Ernie Els by a stroke.
Daly only got into next week's Masters because he hung on to 10th on the PGA Tour money list. He wasn't among the top 50 in the world at the end of last year, nor was he in the top 50 as of Sunday. He didn't finish among the top 40 money winners last year, nor did he have any high finishes in major championships, which also can qualify you.
But Daly won the Buick Invitational in February, a huge surprise.
For years, the Masters invited anyone who won a PGA Tour event in the preceding year. Inevitably, the winners, especially obscure ones, cited that as the biggest thrill for the victory.
But in 1999, the Masters scrapped the winners invite in favor of the world ranking. The idea was to make the tournament field stronger, while eliminating what might be considered "fluke" winners or those who won secondary events.
With 93 players scheduled to compete next week, including a slew of senior past champions and five amateurs, the Masters has the weakest field of the majors. Consider a few players who won't be there: Tom Lehman, Scott Hoch, Lee Janzen and Jesper Parnevik. Clearwater's John Huston has missed just one cut in 13 Masters appearances and has 10 top-25 finishes.
Huston, however, will be at home. He ended up 51st in the world ranking this week. He wasn't in the top 50 at the end of last year, nor was he among the top 40 money winners, despite winning the Southern Farm Bureau Classic.
Perhaps the biggest hard-luck story is Loren Roberts. He fell out of the top 50 during the last week of both qualifying periods.
"That's what the system does," Roberts said. "It ranks how you're playing. And obviously, I haven't played that well the last year."
NO DUVAL: While some big-name players couldn't get invited to Augusta, one who did won't be going. David Duval, the 2001 British Open champion who has yet to play this year, is skipping the year's first major.
"I can't imagine not playing in the Masters if you're eligible," said Paul Azinger, who is not in the Augusta field. "But nobody can get into David Duval's head but David Duval."
It was just five years ago that Duval won the Players Championship and BellSouth Classic in successive weeks to claim the No. 1 spot in the world ranking. He is now 308th after making just four cuts all of last year.
Duval has said he does not want to rush his return after getting into bad habits due to injury.
SCOTT'S MOTIVATION: Butch Harmon said Adam Scott was swinging the club poorly when he missed his only cut of the year at the Sony Open. That week, Scott finished three shots worse than Michelle Wie, 14, who also missed the cut. Scott took a good bit of ribbing from his colleagues because Wie beat him, and Harmon didn't let it go unnoticed, either.
When Scott arrived in Las Vegas in February to work with Harmon, he found a bunch of photos of Wie in his locker, courtesy of Harmon. There was one picture of Scott holding the trophy from last year's Deutsche Bank Championship. On the photo, Harmon wrote: "Michelle Wie not in the field."
Scott took the kidding in stride. Asked about Wie after his victory on Sunday at the Players Championship, Scott said: "Did she win today?" Wie finished fourth at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the LPGA's first major.
"I got her this time," he said.
LOCALLY: The PGA of America is continuing a program that hopes to provide a fun, nonthreatening environment in which to learn the basics of golf. Called Play Golf America, the program has a local presence at Mangrove Bay, Fox Hollow, Westchase, Rogers Park, Northdale, Heritage Isles and Lansbrook. Some of the basics covered are how to make a tee time, a brief history of the game, instruction and oncourse events. Free orientations are ongoing. For more information call the various courses or visit www.playgolfamerica.com ... Entries for the 87th Florida State Amateur, June 17-20 at TwinEagles in Naples, are being accepted. Participants must qualify at one of 13 sites. For information visit www.fsga.org
- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.
