Gerard takes the long road to Augusta
Mauritius trip pays off with top-50 Masters invitation after playoff loss to Schaper
Ryan Gerard didn’t leave Mauritius a loser despite playoff loss to Jayden Schaper (Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
You have to hand it to Ryan Gerard, who deserves more than a golf clap after traveling half way around the world to the African island nation of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean to try to secure a last-minute ticket to his first Masters.
Merry Christmas, Ryan. You’re in!
Gerard — who finished tied eighth in the 2025 PGA Championship — was qualified to compete in the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open via DP World Tour eligibility conferred by winning the co-sanctioned Barracuda Championship in July — a PGA Tour non-Masters-qualifying event played opposite the British Open. He needed to finish in at least a two-way tie for fourth in Mauritius to climb from No. 57 in the Official World Golf Ranking and into the top 50 before the end-of-year deadline.
The 26-year-old former University of North Carolina golfer did better than that, losing to a hole-out eagle in a playoff to claim runner-up and move to No. 46 in the world. The long trip from Jupiter, Fla., to Mauritius (more than 9,000 miles and 20-plus hours) more than paid for itself with a $132,000 check and a priceless pending invitation to compete in his first Masters in April.
“The kind people at the OWGR sent me some end-of-year projections,” Gerard explained of his decision to fly halfway around the world to an island 1,250 miles off the coast of eastern Africa a week ahead of Christmas. “I’m just outside the top 50. I figured I’d have one more crack at that and give it my best shot. Then I could hang my hat on giving it my all for the season, and the top 50 by the end of the year to get into the Masters. So that’s kind of a kick in the pants to come 10,000 miles from Florida and tee it up.
“It wasn’t on the Bingo card at the start of the season for sure.”
After shooting rounds of 68-69 to put himself in position to pull it off, Gerard fired a third-round 63 to stake himself to a two-shot lead entering the final round at Heritage La Réserve Golf Links. His 6-under 66 on Sunday got him into a playoff with the hottest golfer in the world, Jayden Schaper.
South African Schaper’s nearly perfect start on December’s African swing of the 2026 DP World Tour season continued with a hole-out eagle on the second playoff hole to beat Gerard and win his second trophy in as many weeks at the Mauritius Open.
“Those are the shots you’re dreaming about when you’re on the practice green as a youngster. To pull it off in a tournament and in a playoff — I don’t know,” said Schaper. “I just can’t wait to get back and look at the footage of that shot because you’re in the moment and focused and you don’t really take in what just happened. I’m pretty sure it’s going to hit me later but it’s just so insane.”
Jayden Schaper holed this out for eagle in playoff to claim back-to-back DPWT wins (Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
The 24-year-old Schaper (nicknamed “Clutch”) also won the Alfred Dunhill Championship in Johannesburg with a playoff eagle last week right on the heels of finishing in a tie for second at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City, one shot behind winner Kristoffer Reitan. Schaper is comfortably on top of the DPWT’s Opening Swing standings to end 2025.
“So far it’s been two of the best weeks of my career, but hopefully there is more to come,” Schaper said. “It’s been insane and you could never have asked for any better. It’s unreal.”
Outside the OWGR top 200 in late September, Schaper heated up with top 10s in the French, Spanish and Indian opens before catching fire in the three consecutive December events in Africa. But the torrid results only brought him up to No. 63 ahead of the year-end world rankings deadline to get in the Masters via the top 50. He’ll have his eyes keenly set on the South African Open at Stellenbosch that ends March 1 — the final of the five international open qualifying events that earn an automatic berth into the field at Augusta National.
But Gerard walked away a relative winner himself from Mauritius.
“That’s the reason I flew a long way to come here and hopefully punch a ticket to the Masters,” Gerard said. “That’s the goal. Competing in pressure situations are the most fun you can have as a professional golfer. I’m someone who loves competing and hates losing.”
Gerard went to Mauritius “not just to whack it around; we’re coming here with intent.” (Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
Gerard is one of 13 players to secure a place in the Masters via the year-end top-50, which officially posts after Christmas. Canadian Taylor Pendrith, through no fault of his own, will fall out of his current No. 49 spot in next week’s final 2026 ranking because of the complicated OWGR math despite no players of consequence playing in this week’s final official event of the year at the Professional Golf Tour of India’s Tata Open.
Sneaking into the 50th and final spot instead will be American Sam Stevens, a three-time runner-up on the PGA Tour including the Farmers Insurance and 3M Opens in 2025. Stevens, 29, was an NCAA championship-winning teammate at Oklahoma State in 2018 with Viktor Hovland and Matt Wolff.
Gerard and Stevens will be among seven first-time Masters qualifiers to get in via the top-50, joining fellow Americans Michael Brennan, Max Greyserman and John Keefer, Norway’s Reitan and Finland’s Sami Välimäki on the April tee sheet at Augusta. Both Brennan (Bank of Utah Championship) and Välimäki (RSM Classic) won non-qualifying PGA Tour fall series events.
Also booking Masters returns via the top 50 will be Denmark’s Rasmus Højgaard, America’s Michael Kim, South Korea’s Si Woo Kim, Australia’s Min Woo Lee, Sweden’s Alex Norén and England’s Aaron Rai.
Those 13, along with recent Australian Open winner Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen of Denmark, bring the list of qualifiers for the 2026 Masters to 86 players. There are still 12 official PGA Tour events and the South African Open for winners to automatically qualify, as well as the OWGR top-50 ranking the week prior to the Masters, April 9-12.
Si Woo Kim made his own late trek across the globe to secure his ninth career Masters spot, competing in the Crown Australian Open at Royal Melbourne two weeks ago. Kim finished third in Australia to climb from No. 54 to No. 47.
Kim, a former Players champion, also had to dodge reported rumors that he was signing with LIV Golf. He’s since committed to teeing it up in the PGA Tour’s 2026 season-opening Sony Open in Hawaii in January. As for whether he will leave before LIV’s 2026 season begins in February, an unnamed official for Kim told a Korean newspaper: “It is true that Kim Si-woo, like many Korean players, has been offered a (LIV) recruitment. However, Kim Si-woo finally expressed his intention to refuse and decided to remain on the PGA Tour.”
PGA Tour veteran Michael Kim can also credit his top-50 invitation to overseas success, having won the DP World Tour’s FedEx Open de France in September to climb comfortably into the OWGR top 50 for the first time in his career.
2026 Masters Field
Through Dec. 21, 2025
Here’s how the 86 players currently qualified to play in the 2026 Masters got into the field
# first-timers (22); * amateurs (6); Americans (47); Internationals (39); Seniors (7)
Ludvig Åberg (13, 18, 25) – Sweden
Akshay Bhatia (18, 25)
Keegan Bradley (17, 18, 25)
#Michael Brennan (25)
#Jacob Bridgeman (18)
Sam Burns (18, 25)
Angel Cabrera (1) – Argentina
Brian Campbell (17)
Patrick Cantlay (18, 25)
Wyndham Clark (2, 25) – through 2028
Corey Conners (13, 18, 25) – Canada
Fred Couples (1)
Jason Day (13) – Australia
Bryson DeChambeau (2, 13, 25) – through 2029
Harris English (13, 15, 16, 18, 25)
#Ethan Fang* (8)
Matthew Fitzpatrick (2, 25) – England – through 2027
Tommy Fleetwood (17, 18, 25) – England
Ryan Fox (17, 25) – New Zealand
Sergio Garcia (1) – Spain
#Ryan Gerard (25)
#Chris Gotterup (15, 17, 18, 19, 25)
#Max Greyserman (25)
#Ben Griffin (17, 18, 25)
#Harry Hall (18) – England
Brian Harman (3, 18, 25) – through 2028
Tyrrell Hatton (14, 25) -- England
Russell Henley (18, 25)
#Jackson Herrington* (7-B)
#Brandon Holtz* (11)
Rasmus Højgaard (25) – Denmark
Max Homa (13)
Viktor Hovland (14, 18, 25) -- Norway
#Mason Howell* (7-A)
Sungjae Im (13, 18, 25) – South Korea
Dustin Johnson (1)
Zach Johnson (1, 13)
#Naoyuki Kataoka (21) -- Japan
#John Keefer (25)
Kurt Kitayama (17, 25)
Michael Kim (25)
Si Woo Kim (25) – South Korea
Brooks Koepka (4) – through 2028
#Fifa Laopakdee* (9) – Thailand
#Michael La Sasso* (12)
Min Woo Lee (25) – Australia
Haotong Li (15) – (China)
Shane Lowry (18, 25) – Ireland
Robert MacIntyre (14, 18, 25) – Scotland
Hideki Matsuyama (1, 17, 18, 25) – Japan
Rory McIlroy (1, 5, 18, 25) – Northern Ireland
#Tom McKibbin (22) – Northern Ireland
Maverick McNealy (18, 25)
Phil Mickelson (1, 4)
Collin Morikawa (3, 4, 18, 25) – through 2026
#Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (23, 25) – Denmark
Alex Noren (25) – Sweden
#Andrew Novak (18, 25)
José María Olazábal (1) – Spain
Carlos Ortiz (14) – Mexico
#Marco Penge (20, 25) – England
Aldrich Potgieter (17) – South Africa
Jon Rahm (1, 2) – Spain
Aaron Rai (25) – England
Patrick Reed (1, 13, 25)
#Kristoffer Reitan (25) – Norway
Davis Riley (16)
Justin Rose (13, 17, 18, 25) – England
Xander Schauffele (3, 4, 13, 25) – through 2029
Scottie Scheffler (1, 3, 4, 5, 13, 17, 18, 25)
Charl Schwartzel (1) – South Africa
Adam Scott (1) – Australia
Vijay Singh (1) – Fiji
Cameron Smith (3) – Australia – through 2027
J.J. Spaun (2, 18, 25) – through 2030
Jordan Spieth (1)
#Samuel Stevens (25)
Sepp Straka (17, 18, 25) – Austria
Nick Taylor (18) – Canada
Justin Thomas (4, 18, 25) – through 2027
#Sami Välimäki (25) – Finland
Bubba Watson (1)
Mike Weir (1) – Canada
Danny Willett (1) – England
Tiger Woods (1)
Cameron Young (14, 17, 18, 25)
CATEGORY 1: Masters Tournament Champions (Lifetime)
CATEGORY 2: U.S. Open champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
CATEGORY 3: British Open Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
CATEGORY 4: PGA Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
CATEGORY 5: The Players Championship Winners (3 years)
CATEGORY 6: Current Olympic Gold Medalist
CATEGORY 7A & 7B: Current U.S. Amateur champion (A, Honorary, non-competing after 1 year) and runner-up (B)
CATEGORY 8: Current British Amateur Champion (Honorary, non-competing after 1 year)
CATEGORY 9: Current Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion
CATEGORY 10: Current Latin America Amateur Champion (TBD Jan. 15-18, 2026 at Lima Golf Club)
CATEGORY 11: Current U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion
CATEGORY 12: Current NCAA Individual Champion
CATEGORY 13: First 12 players (including ties) in previous year’s Masters
CATEGORY 14: First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s U.S. Open
CATEGORY 15: First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s British Open
CATEGORY 16: First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s PGA Championship
CATEGORY 17: Individual winners from previous Masters to current Masters of non-opposite PGA Tour events that award a full FedEx Cup point allocation toward the Tour Championship
CATEGORY 18: Eligible qualifiers for previous year’s season-ending Tour Championship
CATEGORY 19: Current Scottish Open champion
CATEGORY 20: Current Spanish Open champion
CATEGORY 21: Current Japan Open champion
CATEGORY 22: Current Hong Kong Open champion
CATEGORY 23: Current Australian Open champion (TBD Dec. 4-7, 2025 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club)
CATEGORY 24: Current South African Open champion (TBD Feb. 2026 at Stellenbosch Golf Club)
CATEGORY 25: Top 50 on final Official World Golf Ranking for previous calendar year
CATEGORY 26: Top 50 on Official World Golf Ranking published week prior to current Masters
SPECIAL EXEMPTION: The Masters Committee, at its discretion, also invites international players otherwise not qualified