He’s won 2 Tour events in a row, but will he get Masters invite?

One PGA Tour pro has a chance to do something at this week’s 2026 Austin Championship that even World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler hasn’t.

We’re talking about Austin Smotherman and his hunt for an improbable third consecutive PGA Tour victory in Austin.

Despite that torrid stretch of play, there’s one thing Smotherman is still missing: an invite to the 2027 Masters.

Austin Smotherman eyes third win in a row, Masters invite in Austin

Smotherman captured his first PGA Tour victory at the Bank of Utah Championship in early October. It was a long time coming for the 32-year-old veteran. It wouldn’t be long until his next one.

Just three weeks later, and in his very next start, Smotherman defeated Seamus Power in a playoff to win the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.

It was a lot for the formerly-winless pro to digest in such a short time, as he explained in his press conference at this week’s Austin Championship.

“No doubt. I mean, things change. We kind of look to the next one, but everything happened so fast. Trying to let things soak in a little bit,” Smotherman said on Wednesday. “I guess it’s how Scottie feels all the time, which is kind of a good feeling.”

He also revealed that many people have asked him why he’s even bothering to play this week, given his recent success. The first reasons, the Texas-native said, were personal.

“These last two weeks everybody’s kind of questioning, ‘Oh, why are you playing, what have you got going on?’” Smotherman said. “But like you said, home state event, playing down here in Austin, easy, easy week staying right here at the Omni on top of that. Family’s driving down from Dallas right now, they’ll be here for dinner.”

But there’s another reason he would be wise to tee it up this week. Despite his heroic efforts this fall, he’s still not qualified for the Masters.

In the past, any PGA Tour victory earned the winner a spot in the next year’s Masters. But last year, Augusta National changed its rules and no longer awards a Masters invite to winners of FedEx Fall Series events.

Unfortunately for Smotherman, both of his recent wins were FedEx Fall events. They followed the Tour regular season, where the top 30 in the FedEx Cup standings at the end of the playoffs also receive a Masters invite. Smotherman finished the regular season at 80th. There is one more avenue for him to book his ticket to Augusta in 2026: finishing the year in the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Incredibly, following his two wins, Smotherman sits at 51st in the OWGR, making him the official bubble boy of the moment. If he were to win this week, Smotherman would definitely move into the top 50 and, finally, earn his invite to the 2027 Masters. If her were to miss the cut, then things start getting awkward. The Fall season ends next week in Georgia, which Smotherman could calmly take off in the event that his Austin finish locks him in to OWGR top 50. We’ll find out over the next couple days.

A win in Austin would also make some history for Smotherman, which would make him the first Tour player in nine years to win three consecutive starts. Not even Scheffler has pulled off that feat in the last few years. The last player to do it was Dustin Johnson way back in 2017.

So instead of taking time off, Smotherman revealed he and his team are going to “ride this high we’re on.” He’s also aware of how rare it is to win three tournaments in a row. But that hasn’t lowered his expectations for this week.

“Expectations are there to win three times in a row,” Smotherman said. “To even have the chance is pretty awesome, but we’ll see, yeah.”