80 golfers have been invited to the 2023 Masters Tournament.
Gordon Sargent, the reigning NCAA champion from Vanderbilt, is among them.
Fred Ridley (Chief Augusta National Golf Club) announced that Sargent and Kazuki Higa were the latest invites. Both will make their Masters debuts.
“The Masters Tournament focuses on opportunities to raise both amateur and professional golf all over the world. Ridley stated that the club has invited two qualified players. Each player has shown their talents in the past year, whether on the international stage of at the elite amateur level. We are looking forward to welcoming them at Augusta National in March.”
Sargent, 19, a sophomore at Vanderbilt, won the individual title at 2022 NCAAs in Scottsdale. He was the winner of a four-way playoff. Sargent is the first freshman to win a national title since 2007, and the first person to be invited to the Masters by an amateur since 2000. In 2022, there were six amateurs.
Higa, 27, has won six times on the Japan Golf Tour, including four on 2022’s Japan Golf Tour. Last year, he was first in the Order of Merit.
There are still spots available in the 2023 Masters. These include the winner of the 2023 Latin America Amateur Championship. The winners of upcoming PGA Tour events, as well as those who were ranked in top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking during the week preceding the Masters.
