The countdown to the Masters continues, with less than two weeks remaining until the year’s first men’s major.
Mind you, many fans and players have been dreaming about Augusta National for months, eyeing who has already qualified for the event and who still has work to do until the golf world travels down Magnolia Lane.
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What’s new in 2026 is the addition of winners from several national opens under one of the club’s new qualifying criteria. Last August, the Masters added exemptions for some new event winners, making the announcement in conjunction with the R&A, which also altered its criteria for the 2026 Open Championship. The biggest change was that both majors added automatic exemptions into their events for winners of various national opens.
Winners of the following tournaments now receive invitations: Scottish Open (Chris Gotterup) Spanish Open (Marco Penge) Japan Open (Naoyuki Kataoka) Hong Kong Open (Tom McKibbin) Australian Open (Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen) South African Open (Casey Jarvis)
“The Masters Tournament has long recognized the significance of having international representation among its invitees,” said Fred Ridley, Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament, in a release. “We, along with the R&A, have a shared commitment to the global game and are proud to work together. 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.”
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With the addition of the new invitation categories, the Masters announced that only winners of PGA Tour events that give out FedEx Cup points that count toward the Tour Championship will get exemptions for their tour victories. This meant that winners from events held during the PGA Tour’s FedEx Fall tournaments no longer earn a spot in the Masters field.
In anticipation for this coming April, we compiled this look at everybody who has already earned a spot in the field for this year’s Masters. To date, the number who have qualified, including past champions, is 108, with 93 likely to play (for the record, we include Tiger Woods among this number, but his status remains unclear). That includes the feel good story of Gary Woodland qualifying with his win on Sunday at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, his first win since brain surgery in 2023. It also includes the four players—Daniel Berger, Jake Knapp, Nicolai Hojgaard and Matt McCarty—who got in the last minute thanks to being inside the top 50 of the OWGR.
For those who have not qualified, the number of ways to do so in 2026 is down to one. The winner of next week’s Valero Texas Open gets in if he hasn’t already qualified.
Masters field (so far)
Ludvig Aberg, 13, 18, 25
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Daniel Berger, 26
Akshay Bhatia, 17 (Arnold Palmer Invitational),18, 25
Keegan Bradley, 17 (Travelers), 18, 25
Michael Brennan, 25
Jacob Bridgeman, 17 (Genesis Invitational), 18
Sam Burns, 18, 25
Angel Cabrera, 1
Brian Campbell, 17 (John Deere Classic)
Patrick Cantlay, 18, 25
Wyndham Clark, 2, 15, 25
Corey Conners, 13, 18, 25
Fred Couples, 1
Jason Day, 13
Bryson DeChambeau, 2, 13, 16, 25
Nico Echavarria, 17 (Cognizant Classic)
Harris English, 13, 15, 16, 18, 25
Ethan Fang (a), 8
Matt Fitzpatrick, 2, 15, 17 (Valspar), 25
Tommy Fleetwood, 17 (Tour Championship), 18, 25
Ryan Fox, 17 (RBC Canadian Open), 25
Sergio Garcia, 1
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Ryan Gerard, 25
Chris Gotterup, 15, 17 (Scottish Open, Sony Open, WM Phoenix Open), 18, 25
Max Greyserman, 25
Ben Griffin, 17 (Charles Schwab), 18, 25
Harry Hall, 18
Brian Harman, 3, 18, 25
Tyrrell Hatton, 14, 25
Russell Henley, 18, 25
Jackson Herrington (a), 7
Nicolai Hojgaard, 26
Rasmus Hojgaard, 25
Brandon Holtz (a), 11
Max Homa, 13
Viktor Hovland, 14, 18, 25
Mason Howell (a), 7
Sungjae Im, 13, 25
Casey Jarvis, 24
Dustin Johnson, 1
Zach Johnson, 1, 13
Naoyuki Kataoka, 21 (Japan Open)
Johnny Keefer, 25
Michael Kim, 25
Si Woo Kim, 25
Kurt Kitayama, 17 (3M Open), 25
Jake Knapp, 26
Brooks Koepka, 4
Fifa Laopakdee (a), 9
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Min Woo Lee, 25
Haotong Li, 15
Shane Lowry, 18, 25
Robert MacIntyre, 14, 18, 25
Hideki Matsuyama, 1, 18, 25
Matt McCarty, 26
Rory McIlroy, 1, 5, 13, 18, 25
Tom McKibbin, 22
Maverick McNealy, 18, 25
Phil Mickelson, 1, 4
Collin Morkiawa, 3, 17 (AT&T Pebble Beach), 18, 25
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, 23, 25
Alex Noren, 25
Andrew Novak, 18, 25
Jose Maria Olazabal, 1
Carlos Ortiz, 14
Marco Penge, 20 (Spanish Open), 25
Aldrich Potgieter, 17 (Rocket Classic)
Mateo Pulcini (a), 10
Jon Rahm, 1, 2
Aaron Rai, 25
Patrick Reed, 1, 13, 25
Kristoffer Reitan, 25
Davis Riley, 16
Justin Rose, 13, 17 (FedEx St. Jude, Farmers), 18, 25
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Xander Schauffele 3, 4, 13, 25
Scottie Scheffler, 1, 3, 4, 5, 13, 15, 16, 17 (Byron Nelson, PGA, Memorial, Open Championship, BMW, AMEX), 18, 25
Charl Schwartzel, 1
Adam Scott, 1
Vijay Singh, 1
Cameron Smith, 3
J.J. Spaun, 2, 14, 17 (U.S. Open), 18, 25
Jordan Spieth, 1
Sam Stevens, 25
Sepp Straka, 17 (Truist), 18, 25
Nick Taylor, 18
Justin Thomas, 4, 17 (RBC Heritage), 18, 25
Sami Valimaki, 25
Bubba Watson, 1
Mike Weir, 1
Danny Willett, 1
Gary Woodland, 17 (Texas Children’s Houston Open)
Tiger Woods, 1
Cameron Young, 5, 14, 17 (Wyndham, Players), 18, 25
PAST CHAMPIONS NOT EXPECTED TO PLAY
Tommy Aaron
Charles Coody
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Ben Crenshaw
Nick Faldo
Raymond Floyd
Trevor Immelman
Bernhard Langer
Sandy Lyle
Larry Mize
Jack Nicklaus
Mark O’Meara
Gary Player
Craig Stadler
Tom Watson
Ian Woosnam
Masters qualifying criteria
1: Masters champions (lifetime)
2: U.S. Open champions (five years)
3: Open champions (five years)
4: PGA champion (five years)
5: Players champion (three years)
6: Current Olympic gold medalist (one year)
7: Current U.S. Amateur champion and runner-up (one year)
8: Current British Amateur champion (one year)
9: Current Asia-Pacific Amateur champion (one year)
10: Current Latin America Amateur champion (one year)
11: Current U.S. Mid-Amateur champion (one year)
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12: Current NCAA Division I Men’s Individual champion (one year)
13: First 12 players, including ties, in the previous year’s Masters
14: First 4 players, including ties, in the previous year’s U.S. Open
15: First 4 players, including ties, in the previous year’s Open Championship
16: First 4 players, including ties, in the previous year’s PGA Championship
17: Individual winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation applied to the season-ending Tour Championship
18: Those qualifying and eligible for the previous year’s season-ending Tour Championship
19: Current Scottish Open Champion (One year)
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20: Current Spanish Open Champion (One year)
21: Current Japan Open Champion (One year)
22: Current Hong Kong Open Champion (One year)
23: Current Australian Open Champion (One year)
24: Current South African Open Champion (One year)
25: 50 leaders on the final Official World Golf Ranking for the previous calendar year
26: 50 leaders on the Official World Golf Ranking published during the week prior to the current Masters
The Masters Committee, at its discretion, also invites international players not otherwise qualified.
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