Jon Rahm, of Spain, celebrates winning the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on Sunday, April 9, 2023, in Augusta, Ga. | David J. Phillip
As the 2025 Masters gets underway, a familiar question lingers: What are LIV golfers doing here?
It’s easy to forget that golfers who left the PGA Tour to compete for LIV Golf are able to qualify for the Masters and professional golf’s three other majors since they’re shut out of most PGA Tour events.
Golfers on the LIV Golf tour are allowed to compete in the Masters since the Masters, like other majors, sets its own qualification rules.
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However, it’s hard for them to get a spot.
LIV golfers typically don’t make it to the Masters unless they are a past Masters champion, performed well on the DP World Tour, which is the top European golf league, or finished in the top 12 at the previous year’s Masters, according to Yahoo! Sports.
Golfers on the PGA Tour have more paths into the tournament at their disposal, including winning a PGA Tour event in the past year or making it into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings. (LIV golfers don’t earn OWGR points at LIV Golf events.)
The smaller list of possible entry points helps explain why the number of LIV golfers in the Masters is shrinking over time.
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In 2023, there were 18 LIV golfers vying for the green jacket. In 2024, there were 13, according to Reuters.
This year, there are 12, and more than half are past champions:
- Jon Rahm (2023 Masters champion)
- Sergio Garcia (2017 Masters champion)
- Patrick Reed (2018 Masters champion)
- Phil Mickelson (2004, 2006 and 2010 Masters champion)
- Dustin Johnson (2020 Masters champion)
- Charl Schwartzel (2011 Masters champion)
- Bubba Watson (2012, 2014 Masters champion)
During interviews this week, Fred Ridley, chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, commented on LIV Golf’s future at his club’s signature event.
He said the Masters has no plans to create new, automatic qualifications for golfers on the LIV Golf tour, as the organizers of other majors have recently done.
“We feel we can deal with that issue, whether it’s a LIV player or a player on some other tour that might not otherwise be eligible for an invitation, that we can handle that with a special invitation,” Ridley said.
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He added that he remains hopeful that the PGA Tour and LIV Golf will come to some kind of agreement soon about combined events or even a merger.
Earlier this week, LIV golfer — and former Masters winner — Jon Rahm “admitted he didn’t think a merger would be coming ‘anytime soon,‘” per Front Office Sports.
Tournament play at the 2025 Masters began early Thursday morning.
A Masters livestream is available on CBSSports.com, the CBS Sports app and Paramount+ from Thursday through Sunday.
The TV broadcast of the Masters will begin at 1 p.m. MDT on Thursday on ESPN.
