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There are several ways to qualify into the Masters field -- 19 to be exact -- but there are only two spots left as the 86th edition of the event is just two weeks away. Those two avenues to Magnolia Lane are either winning one of the two full-field events left on the slate (WGC-Dell Match Play, Valero Texas Open) or working your way into the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings by next Monday's deadline.

The current field of 88 will expand next Monday. The question now is by how much. Harold Varner III (making his first appearance) and Russell Henley (first since 2018) are currently ranked in the top 40 and considered locks to be inside the top 50 after the match play event. They'll move the field to 90. Then, it gets more interesting. 

Cameron Young, who nearly won the Genesis Invitational at Riviera, is No. 45 and should be in barring some wild play from players behind him at the match play. That would make the Masters field 91. Seamus Power (No. 48), Cameron Tringale (No. 51), Alex Noren (No. 56) and Richard Bland (No. 60) all need a good showing in Austin at Match Play to either keep their spots in the top 50 or play their way into it.

Bland has a tough draw in Austin with Bryson DeChambeau, Talor Gooch and Lee Westwood in his pod. All three are already qualified for Augusta. Noren gets Louis Oosthuizen, Paul Casey and Corey Conner. Tringale will have to get past Sepp Straka, Will Zalatoris and Viktor Hovland. Power may stay steady even if he doesn't advance at the match play, but he's in a pod with Sungjae Im, Keith Mitchell and Patrick Cantlay.

Tringale has made an appearance at Augusta before, and Noren has three, but both Power and Bland are looking for their first. If you want to look deeper on the board, Shaun Norris (No. 62) and Dean Burmester (No. 64) have outside chances of making it to Augusta. Burmester will tee it up on the DP World Tour this week at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.

Beyond this week's results and next week's OWGR top 50, the only way to get into the Masters is by winning the Texas Open next weekend. It happens often. Players get in at the 11th hour to round out the field and have to make the best vacation reschedule of them all (from off week to ANGC).

The Masters field has famously not touched triple digits since 1966 when it was 103. If it somehow gets to 94 this time around (unlikely but not impossible given the above scenarios), that would make it the biggest Masters field since it was 97 in 2015 (it was also 97 in 2014). There will be some anxious professional golfers trying to punch their tickets in the weeks ahead, which adds an interesting element to the golf that will be played at the next two PGA Tour events.