Cheap ticket to Masters

This can't be what the folks at Augusta National had in mind when they fell for the FedEx Cup "bait-and-swtich."

In 2007 the Masters jiggered its qualifying standards in conjunction with the PGA Tour's revamped schedule, and they agreed to take the 30 players who qualified for the season-ending Tour Championship. It seemed fine on paper last year when the final lineup was a reflection of the most consistent season performers.

Then the tour "tweaked" its playoff parameters and all heck broke loose. The popular word has been "volatile" but the system blew up in the face of the folks who mail out the Masters invitations.

Six guys qualified for the Masters via the Tour Championship standard exclusively, and the most striking element of the six is that they have posted a combined one stroke-play tournament victory since 1998. Here's an encapsulated salute to the Pick Six lucky winners of overnight delivery into both the 2009 Masters and U.S. Open.

1. Dudley Hart (World ranking 50th; money ranking 29th)

He is the owner of the lone medal-play victory of the last decade (2000 Honda). He leaped into the Masters thanks to a pair of closing birdies Sunday that earned him solo second (though he never came close to threatening to win). In fairness, Hart also leaped to 29th on the money list and 50th in the world, both legitimate qualifying staples for Augusta if he remains there at season's end.

2. Kevin Sutherland. (WR 58th; $ 35th)

The 2002 Match Play champion got in thanks to his loss in the three-way playoff with Vijay Singh and Sergio Garcia in New Jersey three weeks ago. Sutherland has been consistent most of the year, with only four missed cuts. So he's not that much of a reach. But the guy who lost in a playoff to Garcia at the Players Championship (a much more significant event) isn't in the Masters. Where's the fairness to Paul Goydos?

3. Briny Baird (WR 93rd; $ 34th)

Veteran pro and as nice guy a guy as the two men above him on this list, Baird has never won a PGA Tour event. But he started the FedEx series in 29th and hung on (actually improved five spots) despite never finishing better than 21st in any of the three playoff events.

4. Ken Duke (WR 89th; $ 39th)

Thanks to a T12 in the first event and T10 in the second, Duke advanced to the Masters. That's pretty good considering the guys who finished T5 in the British Open and PGA didn't get invited. Duke's best 2008 finish was runner-up in Milwaukee, an opposite event who's winner didn't even get a Masters invitation. Are you seeing a disturbing pattern here?

5. Billy Mayfair (WR 88th; $ 50th)

The guy has played in 10 Masters (finishing 12th in 1991). And he did beat Tiger Woods in a playoff at the 1998 L.A. Open (the last year Mayfair won a tour event), so that counts for something. But Mayfair finished T31, T78 and T22 in the three playoff events and actually climbed nine spots to reach the top 30 and the Tour Championship. Are you kidding?

6. Bubba Watson (WR 97th; $ 61st)

The gold standard of a Masters invitation has been deflated to the value of tin with this inclusion. Watson has never won a professional event above the mini-tour level. He started this whole FedEx Cup thingy in 57th place and rocketed up the charts with performances of T12, T44 and T28. This has to be a joke. Maybe next year Watson can get in via a longest average drive criterion.