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One of the great annual traditions of the Masters is the inclusion of myriad amateurs who qualified for the first major of the year. There are several different ways to qualify for a week at Augusta National, which often produces a diverse and interesting group of golfers -- just as we have this year in the 86th edition of this tournament.

It's fairly rare that you get a repeat amateur at this event, and the Masters not only has that with the No. 13-ranked amateur in the world, Stewart Hagestad, but they have somebody who is playing his fifth major championship overall (which is, somehow, the same number as the No. 11 player in the world, Sam Burns). The No. 1-ranked amateur in the world will also tee it up this week, and those two are joined by the finalists from the U.S. Amateur and the winner of the British Amateur last summer.

Let's take a look at all six amateurs and rank them from most likely to least likely to make the cut on Friday evening at Augusta National.

1. Stewart Hagestad (WAGR: No. 13): Hagestad gets the nod over Nakajima here because of experience. In his first Masters appearance back in 2017, he finished as the low amateur and T36 on the leaderboard ahead of Louis Oosthuizen, Tommy Fleetwood, Webb Simpson and Bubba Watson. He's a more experienced major championship golfer than any of the amateurs -- and even some of the professionals -- in this field, and a real threat to make the cut and play the weekend once again.

2. Keita Nakajima (1): A fascinating talent who has received praise from Collin Morikawa and made the Sony Open cut on the PGA Tour back in January. He certainly has the game to make the cut, but Augusta is wily, so it will likely come down to whether he can accumulate enough course knowledge in his prep time and exude enough patience and discipline to not go after every pin and every shot he's presented with early in the tournament. I'm probably most excited to watch him of any of the ams in this field.

3. Austin Greaser (23): Greaser was the runner-up to James Piot at Oakmont and, as a junior in Chapel Hill, is already North Carolina's all-time leader in stroke average. He's probably had an even better run than Piot since that event at Oakmont last summer, as he won the OFCC Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields last fall with a 69-68-69 showing. Despite falling to Piot in their heads-up matchup at the U.S. Amateur, Greaser is probably the better overall golfer and has a better chance to play all four rounds at this Masters. 

4. James Piot (60): You don't stumble into U.S. Amateur wins at Oakmont like Piot did last summer. Piot was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2018 and has received multiple All-Big Ten honors since then. He's been consistently good since winning Oakmont with seven top 25s in 10 events since last summer. Unfortunately for him, the difference between a top 15 at the Colleton River Collegiate and making the cut at the Masters is a little bigger than he would probably like.

5. Laird Shepherd (49): Shepherd was four down with four to go at the British Amateur last year and somehow walked away with the trophy as well as a bid to the Masters. He shot 74-69 at Royal St. George's last year in his first major appearance, which was better than 42 players in that field, so he's certainly shown the propensity in an event of this magnitude to be competitive. He has the longest odds of any amateur to make the cut, which to me makes him the best bet when you consider that he missed it at Royal St. George's by just two strokes.

6. Aaron Jarvis (827): The UNLV freshman is the most improbable of the six to qualify for the Masters. He won the Latin America Amateur Championship earlier this year while ranked outside the top 1,000 in the world (not the Official World Golf Rankings, but the World Amateur Golf Rankings). Jarvis is from the Cayman Islands, where they have approximately one and a half golf courses for all 70,000 people. While his story to even get to Augusta National is remarkable, it's difficult to envision him making the cut and playing the weekend at the most prestigious tournament in the world.