Masters gets 9 more players from top 50 in the world ranking. Glover narrowly gets in

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Masters gets 9 more players from top 50 in the world ranking. Glover narrowly gets in

2024-12-24 22:11 Last Updated At：22:20

Lucas Glover held down the 50th spot in the final world ranking of the year, making him one of nine players who will be added to the invitation list to play in the Masters.

The field has eight more players than it did at this time a year ago.

The Masters takes the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking at the end of the calendar year, and it will take the top 50 not already invited from the world ranking published a week before the tournament is held April 10-13.

The addition of the nine players brings the field to 85 players who are eligible and expected to play. There were 77 players who were eligible at this time a year ago, a difference that would point to weaker fields in the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Fall.

The Masters has the smallest field of the four majors, and Augusta National prefers that it stays below 100 to give players an experience unlike any other. It last topped 100 players in 1966, when there were 103 players in the field.

The Masters had 89 players this year.

Glover had dipped outside the top 50 in the last few weeks, but the ranking is based on a formula that measures a two-year period with points gradually losing value.

Tom Kim at No. 21 was the highest-ranked player who had not already qualified. The others to get in through the world ranking are Nick Dunlap, Max Greyserman, Rasmus Hojgaard, Jason Day, Corey Conners, Denny McCarthy and Min Woo Lee.

It was the second straight year McCarthy and Lee earned spots in the Masters through the year-end world ranking. Neither has won on the PGA Tour.

A year ago, four players from the 77 who had qualified by the end of the year earned invitations by winning PGA Tour events in the fall. This year, all eight fall winners were not eligible when they won tournaments.

Five of those fall winners — McCarty, Yu, Echavarria, Campos and McNealy — will be playing the Masters for the first time.

The PGA Tour went back to a calendar schedule for 2024, with several big events (including the Olympics) packed into the schedule. Most of the top players did not enter a PGA Tour event over the last three months of the year.

The Masters will add to the field with the Latin America Amateur Championship winner, any winner of a PGA Tour event that offers full FedEx Cup points, and the top 50 from the world ranking published on March 31. Fourteen tournaments will provide a Masters invitation.

Augusta National also could choose to use a special invitation. It offered three last year, including one to Joaquin Niemann of LIV Golf, noting his victory in the Australian Open and another top finish in Australia in his effort to play worldwide.

Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark also received a special invitation because he played primarily on the European tour. The club historically is not that favorable to PGA Tour members because they have more avenues to get in.

Among those who missed out on the top 50 was Nicolai Hojgaard, who shot 76 on the final day at Augusta this year and tied for 16th. Hojgaard, who played in the Ryder Cup in 2023, missed by one shot qualifying for the Masters in the category that takes the top 12 finishers.

His twin brother, Rasmus Hojgaard, will make his debut in April.

This version corrects that nine players got in through the world ranking. Justin Rose already was eligible through his runner-up finish in the British Open.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

California residents on edge as high surf and flooding threats persist on Christmas Eve

2024-12-25 10:16 Last Updated At：10:20

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — Persistent high surf and flooding threats along California’s coast had residents on high alert a day after a major storm was blamed for one man’s death and the partial collapse of a pier, which propelled three people into the Pacific Ocean.

And two other men remained missing Tuesday, one of them presumed dead, after being swept out to sea in central California, while the U.S. Coast Guard in the Los Angeles area searched for two others after their boat was found overturned earlier in the day.

The National Weather Service on Christmas Eve warned of dangerous, large-breaking waves of up to 35 feet (10.7 meters). Its latest high surf warning will be in effect until 6 p.m. Tuesday.

“Large waves can sweep across the beach without warning, pulling people into the sea from rocks, jetties and beaches,” the weather service said in a Christmas Eve bulletin.

In Santa Cruz, where a municipal wharf under construction partially collapsed on Monday, most beaches were cordoned off as they were inundated with high surf and debris.

Residents received an alert on their phones Tuesday morning notifying them to “avoid all beaches including coastal overlook areas such as rocks, jetties or cliffs.” It warned powerful waves could sweep entire beaches unexpectedly.

Local officials said there could be further damage to the wharf, but no more pieces broke off overnight.

The wharf collapsed and fell into the ocean midday Monday, taking three people with it. Two people were rescued by lifeguards and a third swam to safety. No one was seriously injured.

Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley said in the weeks and months ahead officials will have to assess long-term solutions for protecting the coastal city from the impacts of climate change.

“Hallelujah that no one was hurt in this, which could have been orders of magnitude worse in terms of any injuries to human beings and damage to property onshore and offshore,” he said at a media briefing Tuesday.

“But I think we have somewhat of a question mark as we move through time,” he added. “And I don't think we're by ourselves. I think this is what coastal communities around the world are probably dealing with.”

The structure was in the middle of a $4 million renovation following destructive storms last winter about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of San Francisco.

“It’s a catastrophe for those down at the end of the wharf,” said David Johnston, who was allowed onto the pier on Monday to check on his business, Venture Quest Kayaking.

Tony Elliot, the head of the Santa Cruz Parks & Recreation Department, estimated that about 150 feet (45 meters) of the end of the wharf fell into the water. It was immediately evacuated and will remain closed indefinitely.

Some of the wharf’s pilings are still in the ocean and remain “serious, serious hazards” to boats, the mayor said. Each piling weighs hundreds of pounds and is being pushed by powerful waves.

“You are risking your life, and those of the people that would need to try and save you by getting in or too close to the water,” the National Weather Service’s Bay Area office said on the social platform X.

Building inspectors were looking at the rest of the pier’s structural integrity.

Some California cities ordered beachfront homes and hotels to evacuate early Monday afternoon as forecasters warned that storm swells would continue to increase throughout the day.

In Watsonville along the Monterey Bay, first responders were called to Sunset State Beach, a state park, around 11:30 a.m. Monday for a report of a man trapped under debris. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office believes a large wave pinned him there. The man was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The storm’s high surf also likely pulled another man into the Pacific Ocean around noon Monday at Marina State Beach, nearly 13 miles (21 kilometers) south of Watsonville, authorities said. Strong currents and high waves forced searchers to abandon their efforts roughly two hours later as conditions worsened. The man remained missing Monday evening.

Further south in Carmel Bay, a man remained missing as of Tuesday afternoon after reports that someone was swept off the rocks into the ocean at Pebble Beach on Monday, local emergency responders said. The Coast Guard will "transition to a recovery search as ocean conditions improve in the coming days,” officials said in a statement. The ocean's rough conditions mean the man is presumed dead.

Off the coast of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, south of Los Angeles, the Coast Guard searched for two people Tuesday after their vessel was found overturned. They had previously been reported overdue from their trip when the boat was discovered.

Dazio reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Sophie Austin in Sacramento and Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles contributed.