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12/23 08:28 CST Ryan Gerard flew across 2 oceans and 2 seas. The payoff was a Masters invitation Ryan Gerard flew across 2 oceans and 2 seas. The payoff was a Masters invitation By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer Ryan Gerard left his home in south Florida at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 13 for a trip he never imagined taking this year, and one he certainly didn't regret. He returned home nine days and some 20,000 miles later after stops that included Italy on his way to a small island off the coast of Africa, and an eight-hour layover in Paris on the way back that gave him enough time to see the Arc de Triomphe and the Notre-Dame Cathedral. "I am looking at the Eiffel Tower," Gerard said by phone Monday afternoon. "Pretty sick." Oh, and along the way he picked up an invitation to the Masters. That green envelope --- Augusta National doesn't do evites --- might not be there right away. The final Official World Golf Ranking for the year isn't published until Sunday, and the 26-year-old Gerard will check in at No. 44. And it's all because of his decision to play one more tournament, even if that meant flying over the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean to get to the Mauritius Open, the final tournament this year on the European tour and Sunshine Tour schedule. Despite some 36 hours of travel --- he got to his hotel at 1 p.m. Monday local time --- Gerard opened with rounds of 68-69 and was tied for fifth. He was No. 57 in the world and needed a two-way tie for fourth to crack the top 50. "I figured I'd have one more crack at that and give it my best shot," he said after the second round. "Then I could hang my hat on giving it my all for the season, and the top 50 by the end of the year to get into the Masters. So that's kind of a kick in the pants to come 10 000 miles from Florida and tee it up. It wasn't on the Bingo card at the start of the season, for sure." And then bingo! He posted a 63 at Heritage La Reserve Golf Links the next day to take the lead. On Sunday, he wound up in a playoff with scorching hot Jayden Schaper, the South African who has won the last two tournaments by making eagle in a playoff. In Mauritius, Schaper holed out from about 60 yards short of the green for eagle to beat Gerard. "I would have loved to win," Gerard said. "But it was an unbelievable shot. He flew it perfect. Two hops, check, use the side slope and just trickled in. Hats off to him. He's been playing great golf. Back-to-back weeks where in a playoff he's made eagle from off the green to win it. "I don't really know how often that happens," he said with a laugh, "but it seems pretty rare." The consolation for Gerard was a big one --- his first Masters. Augusta was on his mind when Gerard played the RSM Classic at Sea Island last month --- the final PGA Tour stop of the year --- when he was No. 49 in the world. And then he missed the cut. "I was looking Friday afternoon and was like, ?Hey, does it make sense to go do anything?' I was going to try to play the Nedbank (in South Africa), but the tournament deadline was the day before I missed the cut," Gerard said. The Alfred Dunhill was out because that was the weekend his good friend and former North Carolina teammate Ben Griffin was getting married. Last on the list was Mauritius. He had heard enough about Mauritius from Christo Lamprecht of South Africa that he checked the schedule, did the math and signed up. Gerard had already done a fair bit of traveling after he narrowly missed out on the Tour Championship. He played in Ireland and England, Japan and Abu Dhabi. Clearly, he's willing to travel. This summer, he flew across eight time zones from Scotland to Lake Tahoe and then won the Barracuda Championship for his first PGA Tour title. What's another trip with so much on the line? Key to this tale was that win at the Barracuda Championship, the same week as the British Open. As an opposite-field event, it did not come with a Masters invitation. But it was co-sanctioned by the European tour, and that gave access to those events. "I guess I realized it," he said of his European perk. "I just didn't realize how impactful it might be." Chasing points of any variety can be dangerous in golf. Griffin, for example, played 13 consecutive weeks early this year in a bid to make the Masters (he fell just short). There also was the case of Brandt Snedeker, who in 2017 missed five months with a sternum injury and watched his world ranking plunge. He ended the PGA Tour season at No. 50 in the world and then started sliding. Snedeker, much like Gerard did this year, flew halfway around the world to play in the Indonesia Masters. It didn't have the same happy ending --- Snedeker was near the cut line when he had to withdraw after the second round with heat exhaustion and dehydration. Gerard wasn't down to his last chance. He would have had three months to start 2026 to either win or do well enough to get into the top 50, but he saw an opportunity. "Figured I got nothing better to do," he said. "It seemed like a cool thing, made sure it worked logistically and just went for it." ___ On The Fringe analyzes the biggest topics in golf during the season. AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

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