Does Els Deserve A Masters’ Invitation?

Former winners of The Masters

Winners of the last five U.S. Opens

Winners of the last five British Opens

Winners of the last five PGA Championships

Winners of the last three Players Championships

Winner and runner-up from the last U.S. Amateur Championship

Winner of the last British Amateur Championship

Winner of the last Asian Amateur Championship

Winner of the last U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship

Winner of the last U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship

The top 16 finishers (including ties) from last year’s Masters tournament

The top 8 finishers (including ties), from last year’s U.S. Open

The top 4 finishers (including ties) from last year’s British Open

The top 4 finishers (including ties) from last year’s PGA Championship

The top 30 finishers on last year’s PGA Tour money list

Winners of PGA Tour events from the previous Masters through this year’s Masters, providing those tournaments awarded full FedEx Cup points (no opposite-field tournaments qualify)

All players who qualified for last year’s Tour Championship

The Top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking at the end of the previous year

The Top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking published in the week prior to this year’s Masters

Els almost made it into the last category at the Transitions, coming up a putt short of the needed win. Now, however, there’s a cacophony of discussion on radio, television and the internet on whether Els is deserving of a special exemption. I like Els a lot, and am sure that his play would not embarass the men in the Green Jackets, but the fact is that he didn’t qualify. Yes, Ryo Ishikawa is in. But that’s the prerogative of Augusta, and they clearly see a financial or prestige advantage in inviting Japan’s number one player. For me, that’s a different issue than Els, who had a chance to play in.

What do you think?