In just over 48 hours, an exciting 2023 comes to an end and it’s time to take stock and start considering resolutions for the new year. Although for some golfers, specifically those who occupy the top 50 positions in the world ranking, one of those resolutions is already confirmed: to compete in The Masters tournament. The one on December 31 will be the first of the two cuts that distribute places in the prestigious Green Jacket tournament.
As of today, there are only 77 players who have guaranteed their place in the Augusta National event. That is, we are facing what will undoubtedly be one of the most exclusive editions in the history of the tournament, with a very reduced ‘field’. It is true that there is still time to increase this number of participants, but the options are increasingly limited and, for now, it is only certain that one more golfer will enter among the chosen ones.
This is the winner of the Latin America Amateur Championship, a tournament that will be held from January 18 to 21, 2024 at the Santa Maria Golf Club in Panama City, in Panama. Through this event, the Argentine Mateo Fernández de Oliviera qualified in the last edition. The rest of the places will be for the winners of major tournaments on the PGA Tour who do not already have their presence in the Masters assured and for the players who occupy the top 50 positions in the world ranking on the Monday of the week prior to the tournament (usually, there are not too many changes in this list compared to the end of the year).
As for winners of regular events, there are 14 opportunities from now until April 11, the date on which the Augusta event begins, to secure a place. Of the 15 tournaments scheduled until then on the PGA Tour, all but the Puerto Rico Open (which coincides with the Arnold Palmer Invitational) will have an exemption for the Masters reserved for its winner. Although it also often happens that among the 14 tournament winners up to the Augusta event there are several (or all) who already have their place guaranteed.
Thus, we may find ourselves facing the Masters with the fewest participants of the last quarter of a century. In 1997, when Tiger Woods‘ famous first victory at Magnolia Lane took place, 86 players participated. In 1985 there were only 77, a figure that, barring withdrawal, will be exceeded in the 2024 edition. We will have to wait to know the final figure, but it seems certain that, in addition to the 77 players (78 with the winner of Latin America) who will be receiving their invitation to the Masters by postal mail in the coming weeks, there will not be many more who have the privilege of playing the second week of April in Augusta.
Below we detail the 77 players already qualified for the Masters, some of them with access through different categories. A tournament in which the Spaniard Jon Rahm will make his debut at the famous Champions Dinner as host.
PLAYERS ALREADY QUALIFIED FOR THE MASTERS 2024
Historical Masters Champions (20)
Fred Couples, Sergio García, Zach Johnson, Dustin Johnson, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Hideki Matsuyama, Larry Mize, José María Olazábal, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Charl Schwartzel, Adam Scott, Vijay Singh, Bubba Watson, Mike Weir, Danny Willett, Tiger Woods.
Top 30 of the FedEx Cup (10)
Max Homa, Patrick Cantlay, Tommy Fleetwood, Sungjae Im, Corey Conners, Si Woo Kim, Taylor Moore, Adam Schenk, Sam Burns, Tyrrell Hatton
Top 50 in the world as of December 31, 2023 (11)
Nicolai Hojgaard, Adam Hadwin, Adrian Meronk, JT Poston, Harris English, Justin Rose, Will Zalatoris, Denny McCarthy, Min Woo Lee, Ryan Fox, Eric Cole
US Open Champions between 2019 and 2023 (4)
Bryson DeChambeau, Gary Woodland, Wyndham Clarke, Matt Fitzpatrick
Open Championship Champions between 2019 and 2023 (4)
Cameron Smith, Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa, Brian Harman
PGA Championship Champions between 2019 and 2023 (2)
Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas
Champion and runner-up of the US Amateur 2023 (2)
Nick Dunlap and Neal Shipley
British Amateur Champion 2023 (1)
Christo Lamprecht
Asia Pacific Champion 2023 (1)
Jason Stubbs
US Mid Amateur Championship 2023 (1)
Stewart Hagestad
Top 12 of the Masters 2023 (5)
Cameron Young, Sahith Theegala, Russell Henley, Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele
Top 4 US Open (1)
Rory McIlroy
Top 4 PGA Championship 2023 (2)
Kurt Kitayama, Cam Davies
Top 4 The Open (3)
Sepp Straka, Jason Day, Tom Kim
PGA Tour tournament winners between the 2023 and 2024 Masters (10)
Tony Finau, Emiliano Grillo, Nick Taylor, Keegan Bradley, Rickie Fowler, Lucas Glover, Lee Hodges, Luke List, Erik Van Rooyen, Ludvig Aberg
