Meet The 5 Amateurs In The Masters 2025 Field

Among a field of fewer than 100 players competing at Augusta National Golf Club to become The Masters champion, five amateurs will take their place for the first time.

While they are unlikely to slip on the coveted Green Jacket at the end of the week, each member of the amateur quintet will sleep in the Crows Nest with their sights firmly fixed on making the cut and landing the prestigious Silver Cup - won for finishing as the leading non-professional.

Should they manage it, said player will stand a chance of recording one of the best amateur performances ever seen at The Masters - a tournament which holds the unpaid golfer in such high regard due to the influence of its founder, Bobby Jones, who was the greatest amateur of all time.

But, just as was the case in 2024, a couple of players who earned the right to tee it up at The Masters through amateur success forfeited their chance courtesy of turning professional.

Wenyi Ding claimed the Asia-Pacific Amateur title towards the end of last year but opted to turn pro shortly after, adamant that he would make it back to the exclusive Major one day anyway.

Meanwhile, Jacob Skov Olesen was in a similar position after triumphing at The Amateur Championship in Ireland last June. The former University of Arkansas golfer played in The Open at Royal Troon in July as an amateur and ended T60th but later made the switch to the paid ranks and gave up his Masters opportunity.

With those two out of the equation, there remain five amateurs ready and eager to make their debut at The Masters in 2025. Here is who they are and how they qualified.

Amateurs Qualified For 2025 Masters

JOSE LUIS BALLESTER (US Amateur Champion)

Jose Luis Ballester booked his ticket to Augusta National by winning the US Amateur 2up against Noah Kent at Hazeltine National Golf Club.

He was the first Spanish amateur to lift the prestigious US title, adding to his already-impressive C.V. which contains victories at the 2020 Spanish Amateur and the 2023 European Amateur.

Ballester - who attends Arizona State University - has reached No.4 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and, providing he retains his unpaid status, will also feature at this year's US Open and Open Championship as well.

EVAN BECK (US Mid-Amateur Champion)

While the rest of his amateur peers are in or around their early-20s, Evan Beck was born in September 1990 and will be months away from his 35th birthday when he graces Magnolia Lane for the first time.

Beck is playing The Masters (and the US Open) as a result of his stunning 9&8 success over Bobby Massa in September's US Mid-Amateur championship match.

The former Wake Forest student had twice previously missed out in USGA title matches, losing 3&2 to Stewart Hagestad in the 2023 running of the US Mid-Am and being thumped 10&8 by Cameron Peck in the 2008 US Junior Amateur final, but made amends at Kinloch Golf Club to finally earn his ticket to The Masters.

JUSTIN HASTINGS (Latin America Amateur Champion)

Justin Hastings of the Cayman Islands won the 2025 Latin America Amateur Championship by a single stroke from Peru's Patrick Sparks to confirm starts at The Masters as well as The Open and US Open Championship.

The San Diego State University student first played in the LAAC as a 14-year-old when it was held in Santiago, Chile and won by a young Joaquin Niemann. Both will feature at Augusta this April after the LIV player received an invite to the year's opening Major.

NOAH KENT (US Amateur Runner-Up)

Noah Kent defied the odds to reach the final of the 2024 US Amateur, having sat just inside the WAGR top-200 before that week and vaulting himself up to 164th as a result. Each of the four other amateurs in the 2025 Masters field have reached the world's top-40 this year.

Nevertheless, the University of Iowa student proved that the rankings don't always mean that much, reaching the US Amateur's Championship match on debut.

At 6ft 4in, Kent grew up playing ice hockey before a chance meeting with Rory McIlroy led him to change his mind and pick golf instead. In 2025, they will be in the same Masters field.

HIROSHI TAI (NCAA Div I Men's Individual Champion)

Georgia Tech's Hiroshi Tai is a young golfer from Singapore who will be at The Masters in 2025 as a result of his comeback victory at the 2024 NCAA Division 1 Men's Golf Championship.

Tai began the final round three strokes off the pace but carded a one-under 71 to end the tournament on three-under and triumph by a single stroke at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa.

It should have been a far more comfortable success for the Singaporean, only for a triple-bogey on his penultimate hole giving several of the remaining groups a chance of catching him. But, after Gordon Sargent's final putt lipped out for birdie, Tai could breathe a sigh of relief and start planning for his trip to Augusta National.

The Masters only created the NCAA exemption category in 2023 after giving 2022 champion, Sargent a special invitation for the opening Major that same season. But, following his surprise success, Tai will be one of its first beneficiaries.