Masters unlikely to change exemption criteria for LIV golfers in 2024

Speaking ahead of the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship, Masters chairman Fred Ridley delivered news that LIV golfers won’t want to hear.

LIV golfers, such as Talor Gooch, hope to gain entry into the major championships in 2024 through a special exemption made available to them.

Bryson DeChambeau has proposed an idea on how to make this possible—he suggested the top 12 players at the end of LIV Golf’s season should receive an invitation to the following year’s majors.

Even though the R&A, which facilitates The Open Championship, is open to that idea, the Masters, however, is not.

At least for 2024.

“As you recall, last year, there was some speculation as to whether or not we would invite LIV golfers, and we stayed true to our qualification criteria, and we invited everyone who was eligible,” said Fred Ridley, the chairman of Augusta National, ahead of the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship.

“And so, while we do not at this time anticipate making any changes in 2024... we do always look at them, and we will continue to do that. I would just answer by saying that... our qualifications are very much dynamic, and we adjust to what we feel is the best interests of the tournament representing the best players in the world, so we always look at that.”

Last April, when Jon Rahm outdueled Brooks Koepka on Sunday to claim his first career green jacket, 18 LIV golfers were present, including Koepka.

Some players, such as Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson, and Charl Schwartzel, received an invitation because they had won the Masters before. Recipients of the green jacket are welcome back to the Masters any year they please.

Others received invitations because they had won a major championship within the past five years, notably Cameron Smith, Koepka, and DeChambeau.

Any winner of the PGA Championship, U.S. Open, and Open Championship receives a Masters invite for the subsequent five years after their victory.

So what about the other nine LIV Golf players who competed in the 87th Masters?

Abraham Ancer, Gooch, Jason Kokrak, Kevin Na, Joaquin Niemann, Louis Oosthuizen, Thomas Pieters, and Harold Varner III all gained entry into the field because they were ranked within the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) at the end of the 2022 calendar year.

Mito Pereira, meanwhile, finished in the top-4 of the 2022 PGA Championship.

He held the lead on the 72nd hole, but he hit his tee shot into the creek, paving the way for Justin Thomas outlasting Will Zalatoris in a playoff.

Regardless, the Masters invites all players ranked within the top 50 at the end of a given year, as well as those players who may have entered into the top 50 the week before the tournament.

Any player who finishes within the top four of any other major from the year before receives an invite too.

Augusta National also invites anyone who finishes in a tie for 12th or better at the prior year’s Masters.

But since LIV Golf will not receive OWGR points, it is very likely that many of these players who received an invitation to the 2023 Masters will not be invited back for 2024.

Koepka and Smith are the only LIV golfers ranked within the top 50, as they currently sit at 18th and 19th, respectively.

Yet, Ridley does not take issue with that, since he and the Augusta National board establish the criteria year-in and year-out.

“They made decisions based on what they thought was in the best interests of their golf careers, and we certainly respect that,” Ridley said of LIV players.

“We do have in our invitation criteria, it does say that we reserve the right to invite special exemptions to international players, although we did issue a special exemption to an amateur last year. So we are always looking at that. But these decisions have been made, and we’ll have to do what’s in the best interests of the Masters, and we’ll continue to do that.”

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.