The Masters are shaking things up when it comes to the tournament's qualification criteria and has elected to put an emphasis on national opens around the world.
In a joint announcement with the R&A, golf's governing body that runs The Open, the Masters announced that beginning in 2026, winners of Scottish Open, Spanish Open, Japan Open, Hong Kong Open, Australian Open and the South African Open will receive invitations to the year's first major championship.
The Canadian Open is absent from the list as the winner of the event already receives an automatic spot in the Masters.
"The Masters Tournament has long recognized the significance of having international representation among its invitees," said Masters chairman Fred Ridley in a statement. "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.
Along with the highlighting of national opens, the Masters' announcement also explained that only winners of PGA Tour events "that award a full-point allocation (FedEx points) applied to the season-ending Tour Championship" will receive invites to tee it up at Augusta National.
Previously, winners of FedEx Cup Fall events on Tour would receive invites to the Masters, but that will not be the case beginning next year, as those events do not carry full-point allocation.
The Masters will continue to invite the Top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) at the end of 2025 as well as those within the rankings the week prior to the tournament.
LIV Golf is still not recognized by the OWGR, leaving players on the Saudi-backed circuit an extremely limited number of opportunities to earn points and get inside that Top 50, but there is one LIV note involved with the new qualifying changes.
The Hong Kong Open is a part of the Asian Tour International Series, which holds a partnership with LIV.
Patrick Reed won the 2024 Hong Kong Open, but was already exempt into the Masters as a past champion. The 2025 edition of the event is set to be played at the end of October, with the winner earning an invite to Augusta. A total of 12 LIV players teed it up in the 2025 Masters.
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