(Photo credit score: Michael Madrid-Imagn Images)
Augusta National Golf Club introduced Tuesday that winners of six nationwide opens will earn invites to the Masters beginning in 2026.
The Scottish Open, Spanish Open, Japan Open, Hong Kong Open, Australian Open and South African Open will see their winners awarded with a Masters invitation.
The announcement was made along side the R&A, which qualifies golfers for The Open Championship by the R&A’s Open Qualifying Series, which consists of 15 tournaments throughout 13 nations.
Per Augusta National GC, the winners of the PGA Tour’s seven FedEx Fall tournaments will now not earn a free cross to the Masters in the event that they have not in any other case certified. 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.
‘The Masters Tournament has lengthy acknowledged the importance of getting worldwide illustration amongst its invitees,’ stated Fred Ridley, chairman of Augusta National GC and the Masters Tournament.
‘We, together with the R&A, have a shared dedication to the worldwide sport and are proud to work collectively. Today’s announcement strengthens our organizations’ collective imaginative and prescient of rewarding high expertise around the globe who rise to the highest of historic nationwide open championships. We hope this formal recognition shines a shiny gentle on these gamers and the occasions they’ll characterize on the Masters and The Open, starting subsequent yr.’
Mark Darbon, chief government of the R&A, additionally issued a press release.
‘We share the identical objective as Augusta National to supply locations in each The Open and the Masters to gamers competing in nationwide opens and by doing so to assist to showcase and strengthen our sport in these areas,’ he stated. ‘This creates an excellent alternative for gamers in all components of the world to qualify and we firmly consider this can proceed to counterpoint the standard of the fields in each main championships.’
Per the R&A and Augusta National, the opens recognized are a part of the Asian Tour (Hong Kong), Japan Golf Tour, Sunshine Tour (South Africa), PGA Tour of Australasia and European tour (Scotland and Spain).
A aspect impact of the Augusta National shift is that gamers within the LIV Golf League, who in any other case can play within the Masters solely by particular invitation, may qualify by profitable the nationwide opens. Joaquin Niemann of Chile, like different LIV golfers, is suspended from the PGA Tour however was invited to the Masters the previous two years, partially because of the energy of his worldwide schedule.
The ninetieth version of the Masters is scheduled for April 9-12. The 154th Open will likely be performed July 16-19 at Royal Birkdale in England.
–Field Level Media