AUGUSTA, Ga. — The chance to play in the Masters is something most golf fans couldn’t fathom turning down, let alone to do so as an amateur and pass up on the unique spoils Augusta National Golf Club offers the play-for-pride set. A handful of “scouting” trips to the course, a bed in the Crow’s Nest, the annual Amateur Dinner.
Yet the Masters is missing not one, but two golfers who qualified to compete as amateurs but passed up the offer to begin their professional golf careers.
Jacob Skov Olesen and Wenyi Ding won the British Amateur and Asia-Pacific Amateur, respectively, but also had played their way into earning cards on the DP World Tour for 2025. Unable to hold on to both—the Masters requires all players who earn invites to the major via amateur qualifying categories to remain amateurs to use them—each golfer decided they couldn’t wait until after April to turn pro. Both players felt like the chance to start their pros careers was too important to pass up, and each hopes they can qualify again as a professional down the road.
Jacob Skov Olesen and Wenyi Ding both earned spots in the 2025 Masters, but passed on the invitations to instead turn pro and play this season on the DP World Tour.
“Ever since I was a kid and watched tournaments for the first time, I dreamed of going [to Augusta National]. But it’s the same with the DP World Tour, it’s a childhood dream to play out here as well,” Olesen said in December. “[At 25], I was a little older for an amateur, [compared] to most. I think it would have been a different, different situation and decision if I was 20. Being 25, I felt like I wanted to get going and it’s hard to turn down a DP World Tour card.”
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While betting on themselves to be able to earn an invite down the road is understandable, sometimes the decision doesn’t work out the way you’d hope. Tom Scherrer passed on playing in the 1993 Masters after finishing runner-up at the 1992 U.S. Amateur and needed eight years before finally getting to make his first drive down Magnolia Lane. At least, though, he eventually did it. Colt Knost turned pro before the 2008 Masters after winning the 2007 U.S. Amateur and U.S. Amateur Public Links titles, and never was able to qualify while playing on the PGA Tour.
“It was a very tough decision, but I felt it was right for me to take the next step and help out my family financially,” Knost said in an interview in 2011. “I know I made the right decision. There’s no regrets.”
How it will pan out for Olesen and Ding won’t be known until down the road. Meanwhile, Justin Hastings and Hiroshi Tai, two of the five amateurs who are in this week’s field, spoke to the media on Monday and were asked how difficult it would be for them if they faced a similar decision. Their responses amplify the dilemma.
“Yeah, I mean, I don’t want to speak on behalf of anybody else’s decisions, but personally this is just too amazing of an opportunity to pass on for me,” said Hastings, the 2025 Latin America Amateur champion. “It’s been a dream ever since I was a kid, and I don’t think there’s anything in this world that could stop me from being here if I was given the chance.”
“I would agree with Justin,” said Tai, the reigning NCAA champion from Georgia Tech. “I don’t know what I would have done if I were there, so I’m glad I didn’t have to make that decision. But I definitely enjoyed being here as an amateur, and it’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
The good news for the two is that their chances of claiming this week’s low amateur honors improved with only five players in the chase. Below we offer this scouting report on each of the contenders. Just 10 of the last 20 years has an amateur made the 36-hole cut at the Masters, although in the last 10, it has happened seven times. So who is best suited to pull it off in 2025? Read on …
Jose Luis Ballester 
Stephen Denton
Age: 21 Home: Spain College: Arizona State How he qualified: U.S. Amateur champion World Amateur Golf Ranking: 6 PGA Tour University ranking: 4 Odds of making the cut: Even odds
Skinny: Ballester became the first Spaniard to win the U.S. Amateur last August at Hazeltine National and just the second from Spain to win any USGA championship (joining Jon Rahm’s 2021 U.S. Open triumph). But it’s another Spanish golfer who he hopes to take inspiration from: newly crowned Augusta National Women’s Amateur winner Carla Bernat Escuder, who he grew up with and shares a swing coach (Victor Garcia, Sergio’s father). Ballester has a major start already on his résumé (MC at 2023 Open after winning the European Amateur), giving him a bit of an advantage on the other amateurs. During Masters week, he will be staying in a house with some close friends separate from the home his family is renting in hopes of avoiding the distraction (and added pressure) of being with his close relatives.
Evan Beck 
Simon Bruty
Age: 34 Home: Virginia Beach, Va. How he qualified: U.S. Mid-Amateur champion World Amateur Golf Ranking: 18 PGA Tour University ranking: N/A Odds of making the cut: 4-1
Skinny: You could make the argument that Beck, a portfolio manager at Brown Advisory, has been playing the best golf of his career of late, having won the 2024 Coleman Invitational ahead of his U.S. Mid-Amateur win last September. And that Mid-Am title came a year after finishing runner-up in the 2023 championship. Naturally, the 34-year-old is in contact with his peers when he’s learning about Augusta National’s ins and outs; he has played practice rounds with Augusta members and fellow stand out mid-ams Jeff Knox and Michael McDermott, who replaced Knox as the unofficial “Masters marker” when there is an odd number of players make the cut. During his college days at Wake Forest, Beck played against the likes of Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, but this week at Augusta is about enjoying the moment. “I probably have lower expectations than most,” Beck recent told the Augusta Chronicle.
Justin Hastings 
Hector Vivas
Age: 21 Home: Cayman Islands College: San Diego State How he qualified: Latin America Amateur champion World Amateur Golf Ranking: 24 PGA Tour University ranking: 12 Odds of making the cut: 2-1
Skinny: It’s impressive that growing up in a country with “one and a half” golf courses, Hastings is now the second golfer from the Cayman Islands to have earned a Masters invite by winning the Latin America Amateur title (Aaron Jarvis was first in 2022). Hastings credits his experience in college golf at San Diego State for helping pull out the victory three months ago; when rain forced a 36-hole finish, Hastings was in his comfort zone from college tourneys that also played two rounds in a day. After his victory in Argentina, Hastings got a sponsor’s invite into the Mexico Open and proceeded to finish T-13. The question is does Hastings’ awe for the Masters—he regularly convinced his parents to keep him home from school during Thursday’s opening rounds so he could watch it on TV—become a help or a hindrance?
Noah Kent 
Richard Heathcote
Age: 20 Home: Naples, Fla. College: Florida How he qualified: U.S. Amateur runner-up World Amateur Golf Ranking: 156PGA Tour University ranking: N/A Odds of making the cut: 4-1
Skinny: Kent transferred in the off-season from Iowa to Florida, where he’s sitting out this semester. The extra time has allowed him to prep for his Masters appearance as well as a U.S. Open start this summer at Oakmont. During Tuesday at the Masters, Kent played a practice round with Rory McIlroy (above), a reunion of sorts in that McIlroy stood for pictures with a then 13-year-old Kent ahead of the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills. It was that encounter that Kent says inspired him to want to become a golfer. Kent played two weeks ago in his first pro event, the Texas Children’s Houston Open, but got food poisoning during the week, leading to an eventual missed cut.
Hiroshi Tai 
Augusta National
Age: 23 Home: Singapore College: Georgia Tech How he qualified: NCAA D-I individual champion World Amateur Golf Ranking: 47PGA Tour University ranking: N/AOdds of making the cut: 4-1
Skinny: Georgia Tech’s ties to the Masters run deep when you consider that tournament co-founder Bobby Jones was a Yellow Jacket alum. But Tai is now the fourth player on coach Bruce Heppler’s team to play in the Masters in the last six years. Even more historic is the fact that Tai is the first golfer from Singapore to ever compete at Augusta National. His college record in 2024-25 has been underwhelming—he hasn’t had a top-10 finish since September—but he’s armed with more local knowledge than some tour veterans.
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
