AUGUSTA, Ga. — More amateurs will be making their way down Magnolia Lane next year.
Fred Ridley, chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament, announced Wednesday that the winners of the individual men’s and women’s NCAA Championships will earn exemptions into the Masters and Augusta National Women’s Amateur beginning in 2024.
“These additions to our qualifications are in recognition of the impressive quality of today’s collegiate game, and in continued respect to Bobby Jones who believed in the importance of the best amateurs in the world competing at Augusta National,” said Ridley during his annual press conference.
Vanderbilt sophomore Gordon Sargent, the winner of the 2022 NCAA individual title, is playing this week’s 2023 Masters via a rare special invitation, the first in more than 20 years. The last player to earn a special invitation as an amateur was Aaron Baddeley in 2000.
Stanford sophomore Rose Zhang, winner of the 2022 NCAA individual, won the 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur on Saturday to complete her amateur grand slam.
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The inclusion of the college champions adds further legitimacy to the NCAA Championship, a tournament which has grown over the last few years thanks to its stroke play individual and match play team formats, as well as Golf Channel’s television broadcast.
“And as it relates to the NCAA champion, as I stated, that is a major amateur championship, and I thought it was time that we acknowledged it,” said Ridley. “And we couldn’t be happier to have Gordon here this week. He’s a fine young man and a heck of a player.”
The news also furthers Augusta National’s commitment to shine a brighter light on the amateur game. The ANWA, just four years old, continues to grow in popularity each and every year. Now in its 87th year, the Masters has a history of inviting amateurs and has taken further strides in recent years with inclusion of both the Asia-Pacific and Latin American amateurs. The Masters also invites the following amateurs: U.S. Amateur champion and runner-up, British Amateur champion and the U.S. Mid-Amateur champion.
Ridley acknowledged that amateur sports as a whole are evolving, and that “amateur golf is no exception.” The chairman believes the amateur game vital, seeing as most players are amateurs and don’t “have the ability nor the desire to make golf their profession.”
If anyone knows the importance of amateurs at the Masters, it’s Ridley. The chairman was a member of the University of Florida men’s golf team, won the 1975 U.S. Amateur at Country Club of Virginia in Richmond and went on to play the Masters in 1976, 1977 and 1978.
“It really goes back to our roots, and that is that Bobby Jones was the greatest amateur of all time,” he continued. “He believed in the importance of amateurs in the Masters. I had the personal experience of enjoying that on three different occasions, and I can tell you that it changed my life.”
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