With the Masters set to tee off this week, six Australians qualified for an invitation. Marc Leishman however has bypassed the event to be with his young family and support his wife who has been quite sick in hospital, reducing the Australian representation to five. Jason Day will enter the 2015 event as our top ranked player in World Rankings at number 5, just one spot ahead of past Master’s Champion Adam Scott.
Geoff Ogilvy and John Senden will join them and are well known to Australian golfing fans, but our sixth representative, Antonio Murdaca, may not be so familiar. So who is he and how on earth did he get a gig to the world’s most exclusive golfing major?
Well the Masters is a quirky institution, with 19 categories allowing for qualification for invitation. If you ever win the Masters you get the ultimate – a lifetime pass. It doesn’t matter if you are 90 and can’t hit over a jam tin, you get to play. And the crowds stand and applaud your every shot – back to back 100s won’t dull their enthusiasm, you are a legend for life.
The qualification list is fun reading and in the full list of those qualified as at 29th March (see below), the numbers in the bracket denotes the qualification category a player has passed to gain their invitation. Mikko Ilonen from Finland for example, qualifies under category 18 - The 50 leaders on the Final Official World Golf Ranking for the previous calendar year. Really, never heard of him!
Which brings us back to Antonio.
Australia's Antonio Murdaca is headed to the 2015 Masters Tournament and The Open Qualifying Series this year after he claimed victory at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club.
Murdaca, 19, from Adelaide, became the first Australian winner of the prestigious championship, closing with a steady 1-under-par 71 that left him seven shots clear of the field, the biggest winning margin in event history.
So as usual we’ll all be glued to our screens on Monday week, barracking for Day or Scott or even Antonio Murdaca – hoping and praying that they can bring home the second green jacket to our shores in the 79 year history of the event.
Masters Field List (as of March 29, 2015)
Bracketed numbers indicate qualification category (see list below)
Bae, Sang-Moon (16), Korea
Bjørn, Thomas (12,18), Denmark
Blixt, Jonas (12), Sweden
Bradley, Keegan (4,13,18), United States of America
Cabrera, Angel (1,16), Argentina
Casey, Paul (19), England
Clark, Tim (16), South Africa
Clarke, Darren (3), Northern Ireland
# Compton, Erik (13), United States of America
#* Conners, Corey (6-B), Canada
Couples, Fred (1), United States of America
Crane, Ben (16), United States of America
Crenshaw, Ben (1), United States of America
Day, Jason (13,16,17,18), Australia
Dominguez, Matias (9), Chile
Donald, Luke (18), England
Donaldson, Jamie (18), Wales
Dubuisson, Victor (18), France
Dufner, Jason (4,18), United States of America
Els, Ernie (3), South Africa
Every, Matt (16), United States of America
Fowler, Rickie (12,13,14,15,17,18), United States of America
Furyk, Jim (14,17,18), United States of America
Gallacher, Stephen (18), Scotland
Garcia, Sergio (14,17,18), Spain
Grace, Branden (19), South Africa
Haas, Bill (16,17,18), United States of America
# Hahn, James (16), Korea
# Harman, Brian (16), United States of America
Harrington, Padraig (16), Ireland
#* Harvey, Scott (11), United States of America
Henley, Russell (17), United States of America
Hoffman, Charley (16), United States of America
# Hoffmann, Morgan (17), United States of America
Holmes, J.B. (16), United States of America
Horschel, Billy (16,17,18), United States of America
Ilonen, Mikko (18), Finland
Immelman, Trevor (1), South Africa
Jaidee, Thongchai (18), Thailand
Jimenez, Miguel Angel (12,18), Spain
Johnson, Dustin (13,16,17,18), United States of America
Johnson, Zach (1,17,18), United States of America
Kaymer, Martin (2,4,5,17,18), Germany
Kirk, Chris (16,17,18), United States of America
# Koepka, Brooks (13,16,18), United States of America
Kuchar, Matt (5,12,16,17,18), United States of America
# Lahiri, Anirban (19), India
Langer, Bernhard (1,12), Germany
Leishman, Marc (18), Australia
# Lowry, Shane (18), Ireland
Luiten, Joost (18), Netherlands
Lyle, Sandy (1) ,Scotland
Mahan, Hunter (16,17,18), United States of America
Martin, Ben (16), United States of America
Matsuyama, Hideki (16,17,18), Japan
McDowell, Graeme (2,18), Northern Ireland
McIlroy, Rory (2,3,4,12,16,17,18), Northern Ireland
#* Meth, Byron (10), United States of America
Mickelson, Phil (1,3,15,18), United States of America
Mize, Larry (1), United States of America
Moore, Ryan (16,18), United States of America
#* Murdaca, Antonio (8), Australia
Na, Kevin (17,18), United States of America
#* Neil, Bradley (7), Scotland
# Noh, Seung-Yul (16), Korea
O'Meara, Mark (1), United States of America
Ogilvy, Geoff (17), Australia
Olazabal, Jose Maria (1), Spain
Oosthuizen, Louis (3,18), South Africa
Palmer, Ryan (17,18), United States of America
Poulter, Ian (18), England
Reed, Patrick (17,18), United States of America
Rose, Justin (2,16,17,18), England
Schwartzel, Charl (1,18), South Africa
Scott, Adam (1,16,17,18), Australia
Senden, John (12,17,18), Australia
Simpson, Webb (2,17,18), United States of America
Singh, Vijay (1), Fiji
Snedeker, Brandt (16), United States of America
Spieth, Jordan (12,17,18), United States of America
Stadler, Kevin (12), United States of America
Stenson, Henrik (13,15,18), Sweden
# Streb, Robert (16), United States of America
Streelman, Kevin (16), United States of America
Stricker, Steve (18), United States of America
# Todd, Brendan (16,17), United States of America
# Tringale, Cameron (17), United States of America
Villegas, Camilo (16), Colombia
Walker, Jimmy (12,17,18), United States of America
Watson, Bubba (1,16,17,18), United States of America
Watson, Tom (1), United States of America
Weir, Mike (1), Canada
Westwood, Lee (12,18), England
# Wiesberger, Bernd (19), Austria
# Willet, Danny (18), England
Woodland, Gary (17,18), United States of America
Woods, Tiger (1,5,18), United States of America
Woosnam, Ian (1), Wales
#* Yang, Gunn (6-A), Korea
# Denotes first Masters * Denotes Amateur ^ The Masters Committee, at its discretion, also invites international players not otherwise qualified.
Number after each name indicates the basis of qualification.
Qualification For Invitation
1. Masters Tournament Champions (Lifetime)
2. US Open Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
3. British Open Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
4. PGA Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
5. Winners of The Players Championship (Three years)
6. Current US Amateur Champion (6-A) (Honorary, non-competing after 1 year) and the runner-up (6-B) to the current US Amateur Champion
7. Current British Amateur Champion (Honorary, non-competing after 1 year)
8. Current Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion
9. Current Latin America Amateur Champion
10. Current US Amateur Public Links Champion
11. Current US Mid-Amateur Champion
12. The first 12 players, including ties, in the previous year's Masters Tournament
13. The first 4 players, including ties, in the previous year's US Open Championship
14. The first 4 players, including ties, in the previous year's British Open Championship
15. The first 4 players, including ties, in the previous year's PGA Championship
16. Winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation for the season-ending Tour Championship, from previous Masters to current Masters
17. Those qualifying for the previous year's season-ending Tour Championship
18. The 50 leaders on the Final Official World Golf Ranking for the previous calendar year
19. The 50 leaders on the Official World Golf Ranking published during the week prior to the current Masters Tournament