Love could miss Masters for second straight year

The biggest loser after this weekend’s Arnold Palmer Invitational was not Sean O’Hair. Despite entering Sunday’s final round with a five-shot lead, only to lose to Tiger Woods on the last hole, O’Hair still pocketed $648,000, which will probably help him get over coughing up the lead.

No, the biggest loser this weekend was Sea Island resident Davis Love III.

Because Love missed the cut at the API, he dropped four spots to 51st in the World Rankings. Why is that a big deal? The top 50 earn automatic invites to play in the Masters. So Love will not play Augusta National for the second consecutive year. The only way he can make the field is by winning the Shell Houston Open this weekend.

Don’t laugh, Johnson Wagner won the SHO last year to secure a trip down Magnolia Lane.

Here’s the field for the Masters, with a spot reserved for the winner of the SHO (field comes from Masters.org):

Robert Allenby (Australia)

Stephen Ames (Canada)

Stuart Appleby (Australia)

Aaron Baddeley (Australia)

Briny Baird

Angel Cabrera (Argentina)

Chad Campbell

Michael Campbell (New Zealand)

Paul Casey (England)

K.J. Choi (Korea)

Stewart Cink

Tim Clark (South Africa)

Fred Couples

Ben Crenshaw

Ben Curtis

Luke Donald (England)

# Ken Duke

Ernie Els (South Africa)

# Ross Fisher (England)

Steve Flesch

Raymond Floyd

Jim Furyk

Sergio Garcia (Spain)

Retief Goosen (South Africa)

Todd Hamilton

Soren Hansen (Denmark)

Padraig Harrington (Ireland)

Dudley Hart

# Ryuji Imada (Japan)

Trevor Immelman (South Africa)

# Ryo Ishikawa

Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain)

# Dustin Johnson

Zach Johnson

Robert Karlsson (Sweden)

Shingo Katayama (Japan)

Martin Kaymer (Germany)

# Anthony Kim

# Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark)

#* Drew Kittleson

Bernhard Langer (Germany)

#* Danny Lee (New Zealand)

Justin Leonard

# Wen-Tang Lin (Taiwan)

Sandy Lyle (Scotland)

Hunter Mahan

Billy Mayfair

Graeme McDowell (N. Ireland)

# Rory McIlroy (N. Ireland)

Rocco Mediate

# John Merrick

Phil Mickelson

Larry Mize

#* Jack Newman

Greg Norman (Australia)

Geoff Ogilvy (Australia)

Sean O’Hair

Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain)

Mark O’Meara

Pat Perez

Kenny Perry

Carl Pettersson (Sweden)

Gary Player (South Africa)

Ian Poulter (England)

Chez Reavie

Andres Romero (Argentina)

Justin Rose (England)

Rory Sabbatini (So. Africa)

#* Reinier Saxton (Holland)

Adam Scott (Australia)

Jeev Milkha Singh (India)

Vijay Singh (Fiji)

Brandt Snedeker

Craig Stadler

Henrik Stenson (Sweden)

Richard Sterne (South Africa)

Steve Stricker

Kevin Sutherland

D.J. Trahan

Camilo Villegas (Colombia)

Nick Watney

Bubba Watson

Tom Watson

Boo Weekley

Mike Weir (Canada)

Lee Westwood (England)

# Oliver Wilson (England)

#* Steve Wilson

Tiger Woods

Ian Woosnam (Wales)

Y.E. Yang (Korea)

Fuzzy Zoeller

# Denotes first Masters

* Denotes Amateur

Past champions not playing: Tommy Aaron, Severiano Ballesteros, Jack Burke Jr., Billy Casper, Charles Coody, Nick Faldo, Doug Ford, Bob Goalby, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer.

— Doug Roberson