By David Westin
Staff Writer
Augusta Chronicle

Don't look for the Augusta National Golf Club to open up its British Open qualification into the Masters Tournament anytime soon.

Of the four major championships, the British is the oldest - by 35 years - but is the lone major where only its winner is invited each year to the Masters.

In the Masters, the top 24 finishers from the previous year's tournament earn return trips. The top 16 finishers in the previous U.S. Open receive invitations and the top eight from the PGA Championship make the list.

The British Open winner, like the U.S. Open and PGA champions, does receive a five-year exemption into the Masters. Of course, a Masters champion receives a lifetime invitation.

Thanks to his British Open win in 1995, John Daly is now assured a spot in the Masters field through 2000. His five-year exemption for winning the 1991 PGA Championship would have run out with this year's Masters.

Will Nicholson, the Augusta National chairman of the competition committee, said opening up the British Open to more than just the winner ``is one of the things that is continuously reviewed. Our criteria now is just the British Open champion.''

Augusta National Chairman Jack Stephens said ``we've continued to study it because we want to have the strongest field we can. But there are no plans right now to change it.''

The Augusta National wants to keep the field at what it considers a manageable number. This year's field, thanks to four first-time winners on the PGA Tour in the last five weeks, was to be at 93, the largest since 1966 when 103 teed it up. Ninety-two players started this year after Peter Jacobsen withdrew before the round Thursday.

If the top eight from the 1995 British Open had been invited this year, the only players not already in the field who would have been invited were Englishmen Steven Bottomley (tied for third place) and Mark James (tied for eighth).

If the top 16 had been invited, Australians Brett Ogle and Robert Allenby would have made the field, along with Sweden's Per-Ulrik Johansson. Bottomley, Allenby and Johansson have never played in the Masters.

``I think it would be OK to look at that (allowing more than just the British winner into the tournament),'' said two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw. ``They've played extremely well to finish that high in the British Open.

``There is no perfect system,'' Crenshaw said. ``Somebody is going to slip through the cracks all the time. It's a very tough proposition. All systems aren't perfect and the Augusta National is in a constant state of review. I think they're doing it better than anybody.''

A deserving player who finishes high in the British Open, but is otherwise not in the Masters, can always receive an international invitation. This year, four were extended. Among that group was the 1995 British Open runner-up, Italy's Constantino Rocca.

However, it's not a given that the British runner-up will be invited. Australia's Mike Harwood in 1991 and Sweden's Jesper Parnevik in 1994, were not invited.

``It wouldn't hurt to take the top five from the British Open,'' said Australian Wayne Grady. ``I think I understand why they didn't do it in the past. But I think now that the quality of the players around the world has improved to the point where they can extend that to five players. The top three would be a start rather than just the winner. The British Open is an honest way of qualifying.''

Allenby is resigned to the fact that only the British Open champion will receive a coveted Masters invitation.

``It's been this way for a lot of years and nobody's really complained about it,'' Allenby said. ``The selection committee at Augusta has their criteria and all the players know the ways to get in.

``We sort of think it's not going to change. I'm not disappointed I didn't get in (for finishing high in the British Open). If that's the way they want it, that's OK.''