Despite rumours that new qualification criteria was to be introduced at both the Masters and Open Championships that would see the top-ranked LIV players receiving exemptions, Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley and R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers have denied that any changes will be made for 2024.
“There’s been some speculation in the media recently on the topic that you’re raising,” Slumbers said when queried on the topic while attending the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship at Royal Melbourne. “I would say that it is completely off the mark. I would like to make it very clear that exemptions for the Open, we do not discuss them with anyone and nor would we at any point in time. I think it’s very important that you don’t lose sight of the fact that the Open is intended to be open to everybody; that you earn your place in the field, through exemptions, and that won’t change.”
The Masters had been the first major championship to confirm that LIV players would remain eligible and 18 of the eventual 88 competitors were members of the breakaway tour. With Brooks Koepka finishing second before going on to win the PGA Championship a little over a month later, that certain LIV players were worthy of their place was never in question.
That number is likely to drop to nine players in 2024, with Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Charl Schwartzel, Sergio Garcia and Patrick Reed all exempt as past winners, and Koepka, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau eligible through 2028, 2027 and 2025 respectively. The remaining qualifiers last year are all likely to be outside the top 50 in the world rankings come year end and the two-week pre-Masters cut off point, which, on the back of the most recent refusal of the OWGR to recognise LIV as worthy of ranking points, is another blow to the Saudi-backed Tour.
Ridley, whilst echoing Slumbers’ sentiments around the 2024 major season, didn’t shut the door on future re-examination, however.
“If you look back over the history of the Masters tournament, and the qualifications that existed, we have changed those qualifications in numerous times, dozens of times,” Ridley said. “We look at those every year. We don’t make changes every year, but we do look at them under the current circumstances. As you’ll recall last year, there was some speculation as to whether or not we would invite LIV golfers. We stayed true to our qualification criteria. We invited everyone who was eligible.
“While we do not, at this time, anticipate making a change in 2024, we do always look at [criteria], and we will continue to do that. Our qualifications are very much dynamic, and we adjust to what we feel is in the best interest of a tournament representing the best players in the world. We’ll always look at that.”
As an invitation-only event, there is still the possibility that the Masters may issue special exemptions for certain players should they deem it in their best interests, and Ridley’s suggestion that they retain the desire to have the best players in the world at the event is an indication that one or more of the non-exempt LIV players could be in line for an invitation, however, only Talor Gooch – a three-time 2023 LIV Golf winner and the season-long rankings race winner – is unexempt from the top-six on the LIV rankings. Gooch, Joaquin Niemann and Mito Pereira all rank inside the top-50 in the ‘Data Golf’ rankings, believed by many to be a more accurate indicator than the OWGR in the wake of LIV’s rising, but whether such factors are taken into account by the Augusta National members remains to be seen.
“They [LIV golfers] made decisions based on what they thought was in the best interests of their golf careers,” Ridley said. “… Our invitation criteria does say that we reserve the right to issue special exemptions to international players, [and] we did issue a special exemption to an [American] amateur and NCAA champion last year [Gordon Sargent]. So, we’re always looking at that. But these decisions have been made and will have to do with what’s in the best interest of the Masters.”
Slumbers backed up this position, though his words suggested that the 36-hole Open Qualifying events and the traditional tournaments that offer Open exemptions to the highest non-exempt finishers will remain the only pathways into the Open Championship. “From my perspective,” he said, “without getting into detail, we make sure there are plenty of opportunities for any player in the world, who has [played] good enough, to have a chance to qualify and play in the Open Championship, irrespective of which tour they are participating on and that will not change.”
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