2014 Masters field: Matt Jones thrilling Houston Open win finalizes qualifiers list at 97

The final Masters invite has been handed out, and it was earned in the most dramatic fashion Sunday afternoon in Houston. Matt Jones, who has never played at the Masters and did not have a PGA Tour win, shocked Matt Kuchar with a six-shot comeback, bombed-in birdie putt on the 18th to force a playoff, and then a chip-in on the first extra hole to take the Shell Houston Open.

It was an amazing finish for the 33-year-old Aussie, who was unrelenting in his chase of Kuchar and a last-second Masters berth. He’s now the third Australian in the last four events to get a late Masters invite by winning a PGA Tour event, joining John Senden (Valspar Championship) and Steven Bowditch (Valero Texas Open). Like Bowditch, Jones has never competed at the season’s first major, with just a 2009 U.S. Open and 2013 PGA Championship his only two majors appearances.

Only a win would get him into Augusta and force him to change his travel plans, something he laughed at during a pro-am at the start of the week:

For most of Sunday, and the weekend, it looked like Kuchar would roll into Augusta with his seventh career win. It didn’t seem to be a matter of if he would win, but just by how much. But Jones never gave in, and pulled off the back-to-back miraculous shots on the 18th to edge Kuchar (with a little help from a water ball by Kuch on his first trip up the 18th). The shot that got him into the field at Augusta, via Adam Sarson:

Jones becomes the 97th player in the field at Augusta, joining six other Aussies to match England with the second-most representatives behind the USA. That country’s Masters curse was finally lifted by Adam Scott last year, and it has a loaded set of players returning in 2014 for a back-to-back bid. The field as a whole is on the larger side, and at the start of the year, it looked like we were headed for our first group of 100 or more since the 1960s. Jones makes it 97, which would have been 98 if not for one early withdrawal by someone named Tiger Woods.

Here’s the final field for the Masters, separated by country (an asterisk denotes an amateur). I will have a longer, complete breakdown of the qualifying process and how everyone got in this year on Monday morning.