This HUGE name is in danger of missing The Masters

The latest Official World Golf Ranking update makes pleasant reading for Mayakoba Classic champion Viktor Hovland, who has climbed to a career high of 15th on the standings.

However, it’s less good news for Rickie Fowler, who has fallen to his lowest ranking in almost seven years.

As of this morning, the 31-year-old American is now ranked 52nd on the OWGR – his worst position since February 2014. 

Fowler, who started the year in 23rd place and was once ranked as high as fourth, now faces a race against time to qualify for next year’s Masters Tournament. An ever-present at Augusta National since he made his debut in 2011, Fowler is not currently qualified for the the first men’s major of next year. 

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The top-50 players on the rankings at the end of this calendar year are assured of a place in the tournament. Fowler, however, is not expected to play again until January. 

Under the current criteria, that would leave him only three plausible routes into the Masters.

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One: win a PGA Tour event between now and Augusta. Two: muscle his way back into the top-50 on the Official World Golf Ranking published the week prior to the Masters. Three (and this is highly unlikely): be granted a special invitation to play from the Augusta National Golf Club. 

A five-time winner on the PGA Tour, Fowler is on an impressive major streak that he will be keen to extend. He has played in each of the last 41 championships, stretching back to the 2010 Open at St Andrews. 

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In that period, he has finished inside the top-10 on 11 occasions. Four of those came in 2014 when he became just the third player in history – after Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods – to finish inside the top-5 in all four majors in one calendar year.

A first victory, however, continues to elude him. 

His best Masters finish to date came in 2018 when he finished second to Patrick Reed. 

On the PGA Tour, he posted just two top-10s from 14 starts in the 2019/20 wraparound season, whilst his best finish in six starts so far during the 2020/21 campaign is a tie for 28th in October’s CJ Cup.