Competing at the Masters is an opportunity most up-and-coming golfers would not dream of turning down – but two such players felt they had no choice. Five amateurs will tee it up with the world’s best at Augusta this week as they bid to become the first non-pro in the history of the tournament to win it.
US Amateur champion Josele Ballester, US Amateur runner-up Noah Kent, US Mid-Amateur champion Evan Beck, Latin America Amateur champion Justin Hastings, and NCAA D-1 individual champion Horishi Tai have all been given the call-up following their accomplishments last year. They could have been joined by British Amateur champion Jacob Skov Olesen and Asia-Pacific Amateur champion Wenyi Ding, but both players rejected the invite.
That’s because Masters rules dictate that players who qualify via amateur categories must remain amateurs for the duration of the tournament, or else their invite will be invalid. Faced with an unenviable call, Skol Olesen and Ding both opted to go pro.
Their respective amateur triumphs earned each of them a DP World Tour card, which proved too tempting to pass up on, despite the allure of making their Masters debuts.
Skov Olesen, who would have had to wait nearly a year to go into the Masters as an amateur following his British Amateur victory last June, said: “Ever since I was a kid and watched tournaments for the first time, I dreamed of going [to Augusta]. But it’s the same with the DP World Tour, it’s a childhood dream to play out here as well.
“I was a little older for an amateur [compared] to most. I think it would have been a different situation and decision if I was 20. Being 25, I felt like I wanted to get going and it’s hard to turn down a DP World Tour card.”
Ding would only have had to wait six months after his Asia-Pacific Amateur win, and he is more than five years younger than Skov Olesen at 20 years old. But he also felt the DP World Tour card was something he could not ignore.
“It was difficult, but I can’t sacrifice [my tour card] to wait for the Masters,” he explained. “I know it’s a great opportunity for an amateur player, but I’m going to turn pro. I can get in by myself. I want to learn how to be a professional player and keep improving. I want to try to make the cut at every tournament and, if I have a chance, try to win.”
Both players have been active on the DP World Tour since turning pro, with Skov Olesen finishing tied for seventh in his last outing at the Joburg Open, and Ding tied for 14th at the Porsche Singapore Classic last month.
