Masters movers

The PGA Tour's arrival in Florida marks the unofficial road to the Masters, and two players come with a lot of momentum.

One is Jason Day, a former world No 1. Day ended last year at No 112 in the world. In his last four starts, he tied for 18th in The American Express, tied for seventh at Torrey Pines, finished fifth in Phoenix and tied for ninth at Riviera.

Now the Australian is up to No 46, making him a lock for the Match Play next week as he tries to stay in the top 50 to get to the Masters.

Keith Mitchell tied for fourth at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and then was in the final group at Riviera and wound up alone in fifth. He is at No 44 in the world and, like Day, will try to stay in the top 50 to return to Augusta National.

The Masters takes the top 50 on March 26 after the Match Play — and that 64-man field will go the deepest into the world ranking since 2001. That's more a product of Saudi-funded LIV Golf. There currently are 11 players on LIV Golf rosters from among the top 64, and with a few players likely to skip the Match Play, it most likely will go down to nearly 80th in the world to fill the field.

Goydos at 700

Paul Goydos used to work as a substitute teacher and had no idea if he would ever make it as a PGA Tour player, or how long he would last.

That made last week at the Chubb Classic telling. Goydos now has played 700 tournaments on the PGA Tour (511) and PGA Tour Champions (189).

"For me, it just means that I've been able to grind things out," Goydos said. "No one has ever accused me of being a star or a great player, but I've been able to stay consistent and do my thing and keep doing my thing, enough to have a nice long career out of it."

Xinhua