MASTERS DEBUT

Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher was yesterday confirmed as the 97th invitee to next week’s Masters at Augusta,

writes Steve Scott.

The 39-year-old, who became the first player to retain the prestigious Dubai Desert Classic title in January, maintained his position of 37th in the Official World Rankings when they were published yesterday.

That means he falls within the 18th qualification category as part of the world’s top 50 the week before the tournament.

It will be Gallacher’s Masters debut, and indeed his first time at Augusta National, having turned down previous opportunities as he wanted to play the famous Georgia course first as a competitior in the tournament.

Wins by otherwise non-qualified players in four of the last five PGA Tour events — by Russell Henley, John Senden, Matt Every and Steven Bowditch — will mean a larger Masters field than 2013, even if recent injuries cause Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson to withdraw.

While the other three majors all have full fields of 156 players, Augusta National has aimed to keep the number of invitations to the Masters below 100 if possible.

There is still one last opportunity for a player not in receipt of an invitation to get there, as the winner of this week’s PGA Tour event, the Shell Houston Open.

Stephen Gallacher.