Masters to keep criteria, invite all eligible players in ‘23
BY DOUG FERGUSON
Players who defected from the PGA Tour to join Saudi-funded LIV Golf are still welcome at the Masters next year, even as Augusta National officials expressed disappointment Tuesday in the division it has caused in golf.
The Masters, the smallest field among the four majors, is by invitation and there was some question whether it would honor the PGA Tour suspending players – including past Masters champions – for joining a rival league.
Chairman Fred Ridley put the tournament over the ongoing battle, which is now playing out in federal court with antitrust lawsuits and countersuits.
“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,” Ridley said in a statement, which were his first comments on how Augusta National viewed the divide.
“Therefore, as invitations are sent this week, we will invite those eligible under our current criteria to compete in the 2023 Masters Tournament.”
Sixteen players with LIV Golf are among the 78 players currently eligible for the Masters. That includes six Masters champions – Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson and Charl Schwartzel.
Three others have won majors that come with a five-year exemption: British Open champion Cameron Smith, former U.S. Open and PGA champion Brooks Koepka and former U.S. Open champion Bryson Dechambeau.
Mickelson, a three-time Masters champion, chose not to attend last year as he was recovering from the public pushback over his disparaging comments about the Saudi Arabians funding the new league, the tour and his ultimate goal of gaining leverage to change the PGA Tour landscape.
Conspicuously missing from his list was Mickelson, regarded as the chief recruiter among players for LIV Golf.
“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.”
The Masters prefers to keep its field under 100 players and is target for that. Players who win PGA Tour events with full Fedex Cup points are eligible, and the club will take anyone else who gets into the top 50 in the world a week before the Masters.
ap GOLF Writer