Monday 1 April 2019 12:49, UK
Shane Lowry has had his invitation to the Masters confirmed after the latest Official Golf World Rankings were released on Monday.
Lowry started the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play 48th in the standings and needed to still be in the top 50 at the end of the five-day event to secure a place in the Augusta field for a fourth time.
The Irishman was eliminated from the group stage despite halving his match against reigning Masters champion Patrick Reed and then defeating Andrew Putnam 3&2 in the final round-robin fixture, leaving his hopes for appearing in the opening major of the year under threat.
For Lowry to drop outside the top 50 over the weekend, it required Kevin Na to reach the semi-finals at Austin Country Club, Lucas Bjerregaard to make the last-eight and Sungjae Im to win the Corales Puntacana Resort Club Championship.
Bjerregaard moved to a career-high of world No 43 after beating Henrik Stenson and Tiger Woods on his way to a fourth-place finish, although Na was knocked out by Francesco Molinari in the quarter-finals and Im failed to win in the Dominican Republic to leave the pair both below Lowry in the standings.
Lowry dropped one place to 49th in the rankings, with South Africa's Justin Harding - who failed to reach the knockout stages despite winning two matches - moving into the spot above him and Brandt Snedeker falling to 50th spot.
None of the nine players featuring at the second World Golf Championship event of the year and still not in the Masters field were able to break into the world's top 50, with Bjerregaard - who had already qualified - the only player to jump inside that mark.
The last chance to qualify for the Masters comes this week at the Valero Texas Open, where only the winner will secure an invite to Augusta the following week.
Watch the Masters from April 11-14 live on Sky Sports Golf!
