'Unqualified' Higawa Sajeonteu "I Was Invited to the Masters"

Augusta National Sends 'Special Invitation Letter'

Kazuki Higa (left) and Gordon Sargent received special invitations to the Masters. Photo by Golf.com

‘Unqualified’ Higa Kazuki (Japan) and Gordon Sargent (USA) will take the stage at this year’s Masters.

Augusta National, which hosts the Masters, announced on the 5th (local time) that "an amateur Sargent playing on the Japan Golf Tour Organization (JGTO) and Higa have been invited to the Masters." Both players are making their Masters debut. Chairman Fred Ridley said, "We invited two players who do not meet the qualifications," adding, "We look forward to seeing them showcase their abilities at Augusta National in April." The number of players participating in the Masters, which opens on April 6 this year, has increased to 80.

The Masters is the tournament with the most stringent qualification criteria. Participants must meet standards set by Augusta National, such as past champions, major winners in the last five years, and the top 50 in the final world rankings of the previous year.

Higa won four times last year and topped the JGTO money list. He has six wins on the Japan Tour in total and is currently ranked 68th in the world. He is known to domestic fans for winning the KPGA Korean Tour Shinhan Donghae Open held in Japan last year. Higa can play on the DP World Tour as the Japanese money list leader. He will also participate in the PGA Tour Sony Open in Hawaii on the 12th with a sponsor’s exemption.

Sargent is a sophomore at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He is the NCAA Division I men’s individual champion and ranked 4th in the world amateur rankings. The Masters allows participants such as the US Amateur Championship winner and runner-up, the British Amateur champion, the Asia-Pacific Amateur champion, the Latin America Amateur champion, and the US Mid-Amateur champion. Sargent became the first amateur to accept a special invitation to the Masters since Aaron Baddeley (Australia) in 2000.