The storylines have narrowed here at the tail end of the calendar year, but a good one is still out there — really, really far from America, on an island in the Indian Ocean.
A Masters spot is at stake.
We’re talking about the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, a bumper season event on the DP World Tour played in, yes, Mauritius, an island neighboring Madagascar on the eastern side of Africa. It’s about 10,000 miles from Augusta National, but it is where a Masters invite will be decided this weekend.
Enter Ryan Gerard, the 51st-ranked player in the world and top-ranked player in the Mauritius Open field. Those two facts are related. One way of earning a Masters invite is to rank in the top 50 in the world at the end of the preceding calendar year. This week’s event is basically the last tournament anywhere in 2025 by which one can earn enough points to crack that list. That’s why Gerard flew there, with an 8-hour pit stop in Rome — a more than 27-hour commute, according to his discussion with Ryan French of Monday Q Info.
And after 36 holes, Gerard is right in the thick of it.
Gerard sits at seven under, five shots off the lead, impressive considering the jet lag he’s surely feeling. He’s tied for fifth at the halfway mark and needs just a two-way tie for fourth to crack the top 50, which would bump No. 50 (sorry, Sam Stevens!) out of the way. Stevens has been forced to do exactly as the rest of us are doing — watch from home — as Gerard tries to make enough birdies to earn that final Masters bid. With a 9-hour time difference from Wichita, where Stevens resides, the current Mr. 50 will wake up Sunday morning (assuming he doesn’t stay up all night refreshing his phone) and know if he’s headed to his first Masters.
This one-man playoff to enter the season’s first major was made possible only because of Gerard’s travels.
“I had a pretty good year this year and unfortunately didn’t finish great,” he explained Friday after his second round. “But the kind people at the OWGR kind of sent me some end-of-year projections that have me just outside the top 50.
“I figured if I have one more crack at it, I’d give it my best shot and I could hang my hat on giving it my all for the season. Top 50 at the end of the year get in to the Masters, so that’s kind of a special kick in the pants to come 10,000 miles from Florida and tee it up. It wasn’t on the bingo card at the beginning of the season, for sure, but excited to be here. It’s a really cool place. Hopefully two more solid rounds and it’ll be a nice trip that was worth it.”
Gerard isn’t the only player in pursuit of an Augusta tee time. Englishman Dan Brown — based in much-nearer Dubai — also flew down to Mauritius, needing a victory to secure his spot in the top 50. Brown is 11 shots back with two rounds to play, so it’s not looking great.
It won’t be their only chance to qualify for the 2026 Masters, but pro golfers often follow this type of strained path. If there’s a chance, no matter how minuscule, they’re probably going for it. Both will have plenty of starts in the lead-up to the Masters, and there will be other OWGR ranking opportunities in the coming months. But the earlier you get in, the more freedom you’ll have to plan around that fateful week in April.
As Gerard told Monday Q Info, Masters invitees can orchestrate early reconnaissance visits to the fabled host site. If Gerard can find that top-4 finish, he’ll have all the time he needs to start scheming his Masters plans on those flights back to the States.
