Five amateurs will make the magical trip down Magnolia Lane for The Masters this year, but how did they all qualify?
Golf’s biggest names will fight it out for the Green Jacket, but there’s also a fight on at Augusta National for the amateurs who are all aiming to get their hands on the prestigious Silver Cup.
US Amateur champion Nick Dunlap is in the field, but he turned pro after his historic victory at The American Express when he became the first amateur to win on the PGA Tour since Phil Mickelson 33 years ago.
Gordon Sargent got a special invite last year as well, and with none this year we’re down from seven in 2023 to five amateurs in the field for the 2024 Masters.
Neal Shipley plays as runner-up to Dunlap in the US Amateur, while South African Christo Lamprecht has made the field courtesy of his victory in The Amateur Championship.
US Mid-Amateur champion Stewart Hagestad is the only one of the five to have played in The Masters before, and he’s joined by Asia-Pacific Amateur winner Jasper Stubbs and Santiago de la Fuente – the Latin America Amateur champion.
Amateurs Qualified For 2024 Masters
Christo Lamprecht
(Image credit: Getty Images)
How he qualified: The Amateur Championship winner
Giant South African Christo Lamprecht beat Switzerland’s Ronan Kleu 3&2 at Hillside to win the 2023 Amateur Championship and book his spot at Augusta National for the 2024 Masters.
The 23-year-old is a towering presence at 6ft 8in and that made him the tallest golfer to ever play in the Open Championship as his Hillside win also got him to Royal Liverpool, where he made a huge splash.
Lamprecht shot 66, the lowest score recorded by an amateur in The Open since Tom Lewis in 2011, on the opening day to share the first-round lead at Hoylake, and although he dropped off he still won the Silver Medal as leading amateur.
A huge hitter, he rose to the top of the World Amateur Golf Ranking in September 2023 and after making headlines at Hoylake he’ll no doubt attack Augusta with the same vigour.
Stewart Hagestad
(Image credit: Getty Images)
How he qualified: US Mid-Amateur champion
Also pushing the average height of the Masters field up considerably is Stewart Hagestad, the 6ft 5in, three-time US Mid-Amateur champion.
The 32-year-old is something of a veteran at Augusta National now as 2024 will…
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