Masters, Open Championship change qualifying criteria

Augusta National Golf Club and the R&A announced Tuesday that winners of six national opens — the Scottish Open, Spanish Open, Japan Open, Hong Kong Open, Australian Open and South African Open — will earn invitations to the Masters and the Open Championship starting next year.

Augusta National Golf Club also announced that winners of the PGA Tour’s seven FedEx Fall tournaments will no longer earn invitations to the Masters unless they qualify another way.

The governing bodies said the new qualification changes for winners of the six national opens will “ensure strong international pathways into both major championships from several professional tours, recognizing the global strength of elite professional golf.”

“The Masters Tournament has long recognized the significance of having international representation among its invitees,” Augusta National Golf Club and Masters chairman Fred Ridley said in a statement. “We, along with The R&A, have a shared commitment to the global game and are proud to work together.

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“Today’s announcement strengthens our organizations’ collective vision of rewarding top talent around the world who rise to the top of historic national open championships. We hope this formal recognition shines a bright light on these players and the events they will represent at the Masters and The Open, beginning next year.”

The winner of the Scottish Open already earned an invitation to the Masters because it’s a co-sanctioned event by the PGA Tour and DP World Tour with a full allotment of 500 points that count toward qualifying for the Tour Championship.

Augusta National Golf Club changed one of its qualification categories to “individual winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation applied to the season-ending Tour Championship,” meaning winners of the seven events in the PGA Tour fall schedule will no longer be invited to the first major championship of the season if they haven’t otherwise qualified.

The Masters has the smallest field of the four majors and prefers that it stay under 100 players to enhance their experience.

It’s the first significant change to the Masters qualifying categories since 2013, when Augusta National eliminated inviting the top 30 from the PGA Tour money list and reduced a category for the top finishers in the previous edition of the Masters from 16 to 12.

The fall tournaments are the Procore Championship, Sanderson Farms Championship, Baycurrent Classic, Bank of Utah Championship, World Wide Technology Championship, Butterfield Bermuda Championship and the RSM Classic, and they typically have weaker fields than events during the FedEx Cup season.

International golfers have been able to qualify for The Open through the R&A’s Open Qualifying Series, which consists of 15 tournaments in 13 countries around the world.

“We share the same goal as Augusta National to offer places in both The Open and the Masters to players competing in national opens and by doing so to help to showcase and strengthen our sport in those regions,” Mark Darbon, chief executive of the R&A, said in a statement. “This creates an outstanding opportunity for players in all parts of the world to qualify and we firmly believe this will continue to enrich the quality of the fields in both major championships.”

The opens identified by the R&A and Augusta National are part of the Asian Tour (Hong Kong), Japan Golf Tour, Sunshine Tour (South Africa), PGA Tour of Australasia and European tour (Scotland and Spain).

Though not the objective, the move also creates opportunity for players from Saudi-backed LIV Golf. The R&A created an exemption category for the leading LIV player this year. Augusta National did not, preferring to use its special invitation if it feels someone should be invited. Joaquín Niemann has received that invitation twice.

But LIV players, although suspended by the PGA Tour, can enter these national opens to chase spots to the Open and Masters. Niemann’s invitation to the Masters in 2024 was largely thanks to his Australian Open victory.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.