| Ames On The Outside Looking In |
 Ames Will Need To Pull Up His Socks If He Is To Play At Augusta in 2010 - Image Credit Ken Dennis His first near miss was actually at last year's tournament at Augusta. With the Masters, the top 16 finishers are automatically invited for the next year. Stephen finished 20th with a 286 total and that left him three shots out of a spot. He then finished T10 at the 2009 U.S. Open where only the top 8 make it. This time the margin was only two strokes. Ouch. The one you might have thought would make this automatic was his season-ending win in Orlando. Unfortunately, the win at Disney does not count as Fall Series tournaments that take place after the PGA Tour Championship don't qualify for Masters qualification. At this point there are two ways he can get in. One is to win a PGA Tour tournament before the Masters. There are five and in 2009 Ames played three of them. The other and more easily attainable is to move into the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings. He is currently 64th in the world and one third place finish might be enough to get him in. Time will tell. 
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