Special Invitations to The Masters are awarded to Ishikawa and Wiratchant

This is the third time Billy Payne has devalued his annual cocktail party by inviting Ishikawa who is currently 75th in the World Rankings and earns this tweet on a CBS web site:
"As they say, close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades & Asian golfers getting free pass into Masters."

or:

"Ryo Ishikawa appears to be the first player to earn lifetime Masters exemption BEFORE winning the green jacket."

I hope there'll be more comments of a similar nature, absolutely no justification for this (except to line Augusta National's pockets of course).

Comments?

Maybe he'll turn the invite down? Doubt it though.

kwinigolfer wrote:
Comments?

kwinigolfer wrote:
I hope there'll be more comments of a similar nature, absolutely no justification for this (except to line Augusta National's pockets of course).

This.


Completely farcical, it's not even possible to construct an argument for him deserving this, as you could (just about) do for his previous two invites. No longer amazingly young by modern standards, massively out of form and with no track record at the event either. Completely blatant money-chasing, and massively devaluing what is supposed to be a "major". Hope any non-qualifiers who are higher in the OWGR come April kick off publicly about this, it's an insult to them. Also unfair on Wiratchant, overshadowing what is probably a deserved invite for him.

No golfers ever seem to have the ba**s to speak up about this..............

It's pure and simple discrimination..................

Journalists are afraid to highlight this as well for fear their "invitation" is withheld...................

Even the ever-sycophantic pgatour.com seems lukewarm about this pandering:
"Ishikawa receives another Masters invitation".

However, their blurb is interesting and suggests something I hadn't realised: that invitations have customarily only been warded to non-PGA Tour members, the past ten years anyway, and that he would thus be unlikely to receive a fourth invite next year.
That might take care of the snub to Els last year, but certainly doesn't explain Matteo's absence, other than the financial scope of their respective home markets.

One other thing: This pandering might diminish the case for Augusta to exclude winners of the six events which will open the 2013/2014 season.

kwinigolfer wrote:
However, their blurb is interesting and suggests something I hadn't realised: that invitations have customarily only been warded to non-PGA Tour members, the past ten years anyway, and that he would thus be unlikely to receive a fourth invite next year.
That might take care of the snub to Els last year, but certainly doesn't explain Matteo's absence, other than the financial scope of their respective home markets.

Doug Ferguson making this point on Twitter too.

As I said, Wiratchant's invite is justifiable... I wouldn't have a problem if they saved an invite each year for the best non-qualified player from a combined Asia/Japan (although it would make more sense to just invite both tours' OoM winners...).

Love the idea that it's excusable cos he won't get a FOURTH invite.... wonder how that will go down with the 6 players who finished above him in last years Japan OoM, with a combined 6 Augusta starts between them - all earned the hard way.

Not that I want anyone to anything illegal, but I think it would be hilarious if someone hacked into the Masters Website and changed the Masters qualifications to:

2013 Masters Qualifications:

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 Asian Amateur Champion
9.Current US Amateur Public Links Champion
10.Current US Mid-Amateur Champion
11.The first 16 players, including ties, in the previous year's Masters Tournament
12.The first 8 players, including ties, in the previous year's US Open Championship
13.The first 4 players, including ties, in the previous year's British Open Championship
14. The first 4 players, including ties, in the previous year's PGA Championship
15. The 30 leaders on the Final Official PGA Tour Money List for the previous calendar year
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.
20. Ryo Ishikawa


They might as well.

For those of us not in the know.. how do Augusta national stand to gain financially from inviting Asian golfers?? Apologes if this is a silly question.

We imagine they have mega TV contracts with Asian broadcasters - remember, each of the Majors are independently (from the Tours anyway) run events and they can concoct their own TV deals. Doubtless there are other commercial considerations as well.

They're presumably satisfied with their supply of Koreans for that market, never offer a free ticket there, but Japan is under-represented in their eyes (not really, their golfers just aren't that good). As someone said, it's almost racist.

Good for Wiratchant though.

If it's your party, you can invite whoever you want. That's the way it works.

Agree with that George, but Majors should not be parties.

The qualifying criteria doesn't include "most commercial Japanese golfer', not last time I checked anyway.

In fairness, this won't make Ishikawa any more popular in the locker room, sure to be some resentment, even if not expressed in public.

What about inviting a woman...?

George1507 wrote:If it's your party, you can invite whoever you want. That's the way it works.

But it only 'works' if the tournament is respected as one of the top fields of the year. This is bound to undermine the reputation of the tournament.

IMO, the reputation of the Masters Tournament is not going to be compromised by this invite.

The "uber" obsessed fan like most of us on this board might be bothered by it and some reporters and perhaps a few journeyman pros. However, for every one us that post on this board and others like it, there are 100's of fans who drink a few beers and have no opinion on the invite and look forward to seeing the Azaleas and Magnolias on that beautiful piece of earth.

I don't like the invite any better than many of you, but the invite is not going to affect the reputation of the tournament.

You're right GPB, it'll still be the prettiest to watch and the least meritorious to win!

kwinigolfer wrote:You're right GPB, it'll still be the prettiest to watch and the least meritorious to win!

Kind of like getting the fourth and last pick of 4 Playboy centerfolds? One of them is going to be the 'ugly duckling', but I will take my chances.

In a ironic twist, Thongchai Jaidee just passed Ishikawa and Wiratchant in the rankings with his 3rd place finish in the Volvo.