Augusta agrees to invite LIV Golf players to Masters

Augusta National Golf Club has announced it will welcome LIV Golf players who qualify for the 2023 Masters Tournament.

Despite some reservations about the recent schism in professional golf, Masters Chairman Fred Ridley has announced that Augusta National will invite all golfers who qualify for the 2023 Masters Tournament including those who have moved to LIV Golf.

The statement released by Augusta National indicates the Masters’ eligibility criteria may change in coming years.

Regrettably, recent actions have divided men’s professional golf by diminishing the virtues of the game and the meaningful legacies of those who built it. Although we are disappointed in these developments, our focus is to honor the tradition of bringing together a preeminent field of golfers this coming April.

Therefore, as invitations are sent this week, we will invite those eligible under our current criteria to compete in the 2023 Masters Tournament. As we have said in the past, we look at every aspect of the Tournament each year, and any modifications or changes to invitation criteria for future Tournaments will be announced in April.

Currently, all top-50 payers in the overall world golf rankings at the end of the previous year are eligible to receive an invitation however the LIV Golf tour is yet to fulfill the requirements to receive world rankings points. Several golfers aligned with the LIV Golf tour have fallen outside of the world top-50 including Brooks Koepka (51), Daniel Berger (52), and Bryson DeChambeau (65).

Australia’s Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman are currently 3rd and 82nd in the rankings.

OPINION Tiresome shake-up of professional golf is a circus and bad for public golf