Four international players received late invitations to the Masters on Sunday by reaching the top 50 in the world golf rankings after weekend tournaments around the world.

Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng, Australian Mathew Goggin, South African Louis Oosthuizen and Spaniard Alvaro Quiros qualified for the season's first major championship that begins April 9 at Augusta National Golf Club.

Quiros, ranked 25th, was certain of his spot but the others had to fight to the finish.

Prayad got the job done with a brilliant final round 64 at the Asian Tour's Black Mountain Masters, moving to 47th in the rankings. He pulled out of last year's Masters with a bad back.

"I'm very happy," he said. "There were people who looked down on me after my withdrawal and said I would never be invited back so I wanted to prove very badly I could qualify on my own merit."

(AFP via China Daily March 31, 2009)