Geoff Ogilvy came within one stroke of not having to spend the next three months thinking about the Masters.
Ogilvy tied for fourth in the Australian PGA Championship in the final week of official golf this year. He will end the year at No. 51 in the world ranking, falling just short of cracking the top 50 to earn an invitation to Augusta National.
Thirteen players were added to the 2013 field by finishing the year inside the top 50 — Paul Lawrie, Francesco Molinari, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Branden Grace, Bill Haas, Nicolas Colsaerts, Jason Day, Hiroyuki Fujita, Matteo Manassero, Thomas Bjorn, Jamie Donaldson, George Coetzee and Thorbjorn Olesen.
Only two of those are full PGA Tour members (Haas and Day), though they have far more opportunities to get into the Masters by either qualifying for the Tour Championship, winning a regular PGA Tour event or finishing among the top 30 on the money list.
There's still plenty of time for Ogilvy and Henrik Stenson (No. 53). Invitations will be offered to anyone winning a PGA Tour event before the Masters (except for the Puerto Rico Open, held opposite a World Golf Championship event), and anyone who gets into the top 50 after the Houston Open.
The field now is at 83 players expected to compete, leaving the Masters in good shape to keep the field under 100 players. Still to be determined is whether the Masters will continue to take winners of all PGA Tour events now that five additional events get full FedEx Cup points.
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THE POULTER COLLECTION: The garage in Ian Poulter's expansive new home in Orlando, Fla., might be mistaken for a Ferrari dealership.
Poulter has two of them in the garage at Lake Nona, and he even built a hydraulic lift to stack them on top of each other. Asked how he decides which one to drive, the Ferrari California or the Ferrari FF, he said it depends on how much time he has to bring one down from the lift.
But he's not stopping at two.
"I've got two more coming," he said before leaving the World Challenge in California.
After winning the HSBC Champions and its $1.2 million prize, Poulter said he "already spent the check last week." Turns out it was on a third Ferrari, an Enzo. He didn't get into details as much as he did with the FF, which was customized to include his tartan to line the interior.
As for the fourth Ferrari?
"I'm not going to tell you what it is until I have my hands on it," Poulter said. "It was the first of its type to come off the production line. It was a vehicle I can't say no to. It's a really a special piece."
Poulter doesn't look at the Ferraris as a hobby, the way some people collect fine art or even baseball cards.
"You can say it's a level of investment," he said. "It's one of those cars that's going to stay good forever."
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NBC IN HAWAII: As if the scenery in Hawaii doesn't already make for good television, Tommy Roy plans to take it up a notch.
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