Nico Echavarria and girlfriend Claudia De Antonio had much to celebrate in Japan (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
Nico Echavarria won the Puerto Rico Open in March of 2023. It earned him a two-year exemption, a spot in his first Players Championship the next week and tee time at Kapalua to kick off 2024.
It did not get him to Augusta National a month later, however. The Masters doesn’t cotton to opposite-event winners as worthy invitees.
But fall winners? That’s the ticket.
Echavarria edged out Justin Thomas and Max Greyserman to win the Zozo Championship in Japan, becoming the fifth straight FedEx Fall winner to book a spot in Augusta in April.
“Yeah, I’m very excited to go for the first time to Augusta, I’ve never been,” the 30-year-old Colombian said. “I was waiting to win myself that trip before going and we’ve done that, so we’re going to be very happy to play the Masters in a couple months.”
Echavarria will be the third Colombian golfer to tee it up in the Masters, following Camilo Villegas and Sebastian Muñoz. Villegas was Echavarria’s inspiration for becoming a professional golfer.
“Camilo, I mean, is my hero … that’s the reason why I play golf,” Echavarria said after winning his first PGA Tour event in Puerto Rico thanks in part to encouragement and advice from Villegas on the eve of the final round. “Watching him win was the thing that sparked me to do this and here we are winning on the PGA Tour.
“He sent me a great message yesterday saying that at some point in the round you’re going to feel like you lose control, you’re going to feel like the tournament could go away, and it did feel like that on No. 6 with a very bad swing and ended up being probably the best bogey of my life. So very happy with how he … he knows what’s going to happen, he knows that 18 holes of golf is very long and I was able to keep myself together and keep fighting.”
Echavarria carried those lessons over in Japan, hanging onto a two-shot lead through 54 holes despite a couple of bogeys that opened the door for some veteran chasers. He closed it out with two birdies in the last three holes to win by one.
“It’s surreal. This moment is very special,” he said. “It’s been a good year for me, I just haven’t had that top result. I’ve been very consistent, I’ve learned a lot this year. To finish the year this way is, it’s incredible.”
Echavarria is the fifth fall winner to get into the Masters – following Patton Kizzire, Kevin Yu, Matt McCarty and J.T. Poston. He’s also the 14th player who will be making his first trip to compete in the Masters, raising the field to 74 qualified players.
That the Masters gives invites to the PGA Tour’s fall event winners has been the subject of some debate this season. The AP’s Doug Ferguson believes the Masters should rethink its exemption policy regarding the fall. Taking the opposite view is Global Golf Post’s Scott Michaux, who thinks the fall is the most impactful use of Augusta’s “golden ticket.”
There are three more fall events – the World Wide Technology Open in Mexico, Butterfield Bermuda Championship and RSM Classic in Sea Island, Ga. – that will offer automatic spots as well as the end-of-year top-50 OWGR rankings deadline for qualifying.
Through Nov. 1, 2024
Here’s how the 74 players currently qualified to play in the 2025 Masters got into the field
# first-timers (14); * amateurs (5); Americans (37); Internationals (37); Seniors (6)
Masters Tournament Champions (Lifetime)
Angel Cabrera (1) – Argentina
Fred Couples (1)
Sergio Garcia (1) – Spain
Dustin Johnson (1)
Zach Johnson (1)
Bernhard Langer (1) – Germany
Hideki Matsuyama (1) – Japan
Phil Mickelson (1, 4)
Jose Maria Olazabal (1) – Spain
Jon Rahm (1, 2) – Spain
Patrick Reed (1, 13)
Scottie Scheffler (1, 5, 6, 13, 17)
Charl Schwartzel (1) – South Africa
Adam Scott (1, 18) – Australia
Vijay Singh (1) – Fiji
Jordan Spieth (1)
Bubba Watson (1)
Mike Weir (1) – Canada
Danny Willett (1) – England
Tiger Woods (1)
U.S. Open champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
Wyndham Clark (2, 18) – through 2028
Bryson DeChambeau (2, 13) – through 2029
Matthew Fitzpatrick (2) – England – through 2027
British Open Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
Brian Harman (3) – through 2028
Collin Morikawa (3, 4, 13, 18) – through 2026
Xander Schauffele (3, 4, 13, 18) – through 2029
Cameron Smith (3, 5) – Australia – through 2027
PGA Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
Brooks Koepka (4) – through 2028
Justin Thomas (4, 18) – through 2027
The Players Championship Winners (3 years)
—
Current Olympic Gold Medalist (for 2025)
—
Current U.S. Amateur champion (A, Honorary, non-competing after 1 year) and runner-up (B)
#*Jose Luis Ballester (7) – Spain
#*Noah Kent (7)
Current British Amateur Champion (Honorary, non-competing after 1 year)
#*Jacob Skov Olesen (8) – Denmark
Current Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion
Wenyi Ding (China) forfeited his spot by turning professional
Current Latin America Amateur Champion
TBD Jan. 19, 2025
Current U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion
#*Evan Beck (11)
Current NCAA Individual Champion
#*Hiroshi Tai (12) – Singapore
First 12 players (including ties) in previous year’s Masters
Ludvig Åberg (13, 18) – Sweden
Cam Davis (13, 17) – Australia
Tommy Fleetwood (13, 18) – England
Tyrrell Hatton (13) – England
Max Homa (13)
Mattieu Pavon (13, 18) – France
Adam Schenk (13)
Cameron Young (13)
Will Zalatoris (13)
First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s U.S. Open
Patrick Cantlay (14, 18)
Tony Finau (14, 18)
Rory McIlroy (14, 17, 18) – Northern Ireland
First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s British Open
Billy Horschel (15, 18)
#Thriston Lawrence (15) – South Africa
Justin Rose (15) – England
First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s PGA Championship
#Thomas Detry (16) – Belgium
Viktor Hovland (16, 18) – Norway
Winners of non-opposite PGA Tour events from previous Masters to current Masters
Keegan Bradley (17, 18)
#Nico Echavarria (17) — Colombia
Patton Kizzire (17)
Robert MacIntyre (17, 18) – Scotland
#Matt McCarty (17)
#Taylor Pendrith (17, 18) – Canada
J.T. Poston (17)
#Aaron Rai (17, 18) – England
#Davis Riley (17)
#Davis Thompson (17)
Jhonattan Vegas (17) – Venezuela
#Kevin Yu (17) – Taiwan
Eligible qualifiers for previous year’s season-ending Tour Championship
Byeong Hun (Ben) An (18) – South Korea
Christiaan Bezuidenhout (18) – South Africa
Akshay Bhatia (18)
Sam Burns (18)
Russell Henley (18)
Tom Hoge (18)
Sungjae Im (18) – South Korea
Chris Kirk (18)
Shane Lowry (18) – Ireland
Sepp Straka (18) – Austria
Sahith Theegala (18)
Top 50 on final Official World Golf Ranking for previous calendar year
TBD
Top 50 on Official World Golf Ranking published week prior to current Masters
TBD
The Masters Committee, at its discretion, also invites players otherwise not qualified
TBD
