At the Masters and the Open Championship, you go via Hong Kong. Or at least that’s what three and a half Spanish LIV Golf players think, who have travelled this week to the Hong Kong Golf Club to compete in the Link Hong Kong Open, one of the important tournaments on the Asian Tour calendar which, as happened a few weeks ago at the Open de España presented by Madrid of the DP World Tour, has a very special incentive in its 2025 edition.
The winner of the tournament, provided they are not already qualified, will earn a direct ticket to the Masters de Augusta next year. Similarly, the highest-ranked player among those who have made the cut and who does not have a place through any other qualifying criteria will automatically qualify for the Open Championship to be played at Royal Birkdale.
This quick way to secure a spot in two of the four majors of the 2026 calendar has attracted no less than 26 LIV Golf players. Some of them, by contract, must play a minimum number of tournaments on the Asian circuit calendar during the season. Although most, undoubtedly, are drawn to Hong Kong for the unique opportunity it presents to first compete for victory in a national open with more than six decades of history, and then to be with the world’s best in two of the major events of the next season.
Among them are names such as Martin Kaymer, Talor Gooch, Harold Varner III, Graeme McDowell, Kevin Na, Adrian Meronk, Dean Burmester, Richard Bland, Thomas Pieters, and Paul Casey, among others. Also present are Patrick Reed and Charl Schwartzel, the only two Masters winners in the field and the only ones qualified for the American tournament who, if they win, as they have a lifetime spot in the event of the famous Green Jacket, would leave the ticket awarded by this event unclaimed as it is only for the winner.
In the case of the Open Championship, the situation is different. The only player qualified for the British major competing this week in Hong Kong is South African Louis Oosthuizen, who won the tournament at St. Andrews in 2010. If he is the one who wins the Link Hong Kong Open on Sunday, the place for the British will automatically go to the runner-up. Otherwise, the winner will be able to be in July next year at the last Major of the season.
In pursuit of these two spots, three Spaniards have travelled to China: David Puig and Josele Ballester, members of the Fireballs captained by Sergio García in LIV Golf, and their former teammate from past seasons, Eugenio López-Chacarra, who is seizing his playing opportunities by competing in this Asian Tour event in Hong Kong while fighting in the DP World Tour for one of the top 10 positions in the Race to Dubai that grant access to the PGA Tour cards for 2026.
The winner of last year’s edition in Hong Kong and the title defender this week is Patrick Reed, one of the two players who could leave the ticket to Augusta National unclaimed on Sunday. For the rest, except for Schwartzel (in the same case) and Oosthuizen (in the case of the Open Championship), this visit to the Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China has a dual incentive that goes beyond fulfilling contracts or playing a regular calendar tournament…
