Playing in The Masters is special for every pro golfer, and two PGA Tour pros are showing just how special as they continue on marathon runs of consecutive starts in a bid to make the field at Augusta National.
At the Houston Open this week, Michael Kim is playing for the eighth straight week to try and make The Masters, but Ben Griffin can beat that as the ultra marathon man is playing in a 12th consecutive PGA Tour event.
That's three solid months of grinding on the PGA Tour going straight from venue to venue for Griffin - all in a desperate attempt to make his debut at The Masters.
Time is running out to qualify for The Masters, with the end of the Houston Open being the cut-off point for the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking who have not already qualified to bank their invitation to Augusta National.
And with Kim sitting in 52nd in the OWGR and Griffin in 53rd, they simply had no choice but to keep their starting streaks going to try and punch their tickets for a trip down Magnolia Lane.
They're not the only ones either, with last year's Houston Open champion Stephan Jaeger needing a decent title defence sitting at No.44 in the OWGR, while Eric Cole (61) and Si Woo Kim (66) need big performances to play their way in.
“I’m really running on fumes at this point,” Kim said on social media ahead of the Houston Open.
"I still have one more chance at qualifying for the Masters. I’ll (probably) need a top 20 to get a spot. At this point, I’ll be happy with or without the week off, but I want to give myself the opportunity.”
Everything depends on how the rest of the field and those around them in the OWGR perform, of course, but despite being just one place apart in the standings the minimum requirements are quite different.
Kim needs a minimum of a top 50 finish in Houston to get in, while Griffin needs at least a solo finish of 28th to achieve his dream of making his Masters debut.
Starting the year as the World No.156, Kim's fortunes have been boosted by finishing second in Phoenix and then a huge fourth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Griffin started 2025 in much better shape as the World No.68 but struggled to make serious inroads until back-to-back T4 finishes at the Mexico Open and Cognizant Classic saw him dip inside the OWGR top 50.
Missing the cut at The Players Championship was a massive blow with so many points at stake and also failing to make the weekend at the Valspar Championship really piled on the pressure.
Both men will now have to battle physical and mental fatigue to claim their prize - a Masters debut for Griffin and a first trip to Augusta since 2019 for Kim - with the pair showing just how much this iconic tournament means to them.
Kim and Griffin both shot level-par rounds of 70 on the opening day in Houston, which was right around the projected cut mark after round one.
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