Furyk among 11 to book Masters trip

American Jim Furyk, the 2003 US Open winner, was among 11 golfers to secure a trip to the 2012 Masters by finishing among the year-end top 50 in the world golf rankings issued on Monday. Furyk qualified for a 17th consecutive Augusta National Golf Club invitation next April by edging into the list at 50th in the world, two spots below where he began the weekend but just high enough to reach the Masters field. Also sneaking in at 49th was Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano. Japan's Ryo Ishikawa just missed making the Masters field, finishing at 51st in the year-end rankings. England's Ian Poulter, coming off a victory on Sunday at the Australian Masters, qualified at 16th in the rankings, as did his countrymen Simon Dyson, who was 28th on the final list for 2011, and Paul Casey, who was 20th. Others adding the Masters to their 2012 travel plans included South Koreans Kim Kyung-Tae at 25th and Bae Sang-Moon at 30th, Spain's Alvaro Quiros at 22nd and Miguel Angel Jimenez at 44th, American Rickie Fowler at 32nd and Italian Francesco Molinari at 41st. South African stars Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, both two-time US Open champions, did not crack the year-end top 50 and must seek another path back to Augusta National, where Els had made 18 consecutive Masters starts. Els, who also has a British Open title on his career ledger, slipped from the year-end top 50 for the first time since 1993 by standing 56th in the final list, three spots beneath Goosen. Remaining ways to qualify for the Masters include winning a PGA event not staged opposite a World Golf Championships tournament in the first three months of 2012 or reaching the rankings top 50 after the Arnold Palmer Invitational, staged two weeks before the Masters.