10,000 Miles to the Masters

Where would you go to earn a start in the Masters? For most players, the answer is simple: anywhere. For Ryan Gerard, it’s 10,000 miles from home. This week, the world No. 56 tees it up at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, chasing a top-50 ranking and the dream that comes with it—a spot at Augusta in April.

I spoke with Gerard a few days before he began the 27-hour journey to Mauritius. The itinerary was brutal: a 10-hour flight to Rome, nearly eight hours on the ground, then another 10-hour flight to the island. But with a chance to play his way into the Masters, it felt like a minor inconvenience.

Just a few weeks earlier, Mauritius wasn’t even on Gerard’s radar. That changed when he missed the cut at the RSM Classic (getting hit by one of his pro-am partners with a drive didn't help), the final PGA Tour event of 2025—and potentially his last opportunity to gather the points needed to move inside the top 50.

Gerard’s path to Augusta shifted overseas because of a win earlier this season at the Barracuda Championship (RIP). As a co-sanctioned event with the DP World Tour, that victory opened the door to European starts—and, more importantly, to OWGR points still available late in the year for players chasing Masters invitations.

That Friday afternoon in Mississippi, Gerard began scanning the DP World Tour schedule, hoping to register for the no-cut Nedbank Open in South Africa. It would have been a perfect opportunity. Instead, he learned a small but costly difference: European Tour commitment deadlines fall on Thursdays, not Fridays like the PGA Tour. The Nedbank wasn't an option.

That left one final option in 2025. One tournament. One long flight. And one remaining chance to chase Augusta.

The Mauritius Open, played on a small island in the Indian Ocean more than 1,000 miles off the east coast of Africa, became Gerard’s Masters lifeline.

Gerard’s agent reached out to Christo Lamprecht’s agent to get feedback after Lamprecht played the event the previous year. When the response came back positive—about both the tournament and the country—all systems were go.

The event has been played since 2015 and boasts a strong list of past winners, including Louis Oosthuizen, Rasmus Højgaard, and American Kurt Kitayama. But this week, for Gerard, it represents something far bigger than a trophy.

While Gerard believes he’ll eventually play his way into the Masters, locking up a spot before the end of the season came with benefits he felt were too good to pass up. “You can get some early access to the course and plan your schedule, so you’re as prepared as possible for April,” Gerard told me.

According to Nosferatu on Twitter, Gerard will need a two-way tie for fourth or better to secure his spot. Canadian Tyler Pendrith, currently holding the final position inside the top 50, will be watching the leaderboard closely this week as his Masters fate hinges on Gerard’s finish.

Gerard’s regular caddie, Steve Hale—better known as “Pepsi”—is away celebrating his 30th wedding anniversary and won’t be making the nearly 30-hour trip. Instead, a close friend of Gerard’s will be on the bag for the week.

Tired or not, Ryan Gerard knows exactly what’s at stake, because fifteen-year-old him would have died for this chance—and now it’s 10,000 miles away.

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