Gamers competing on the LIV Golf Invitational Sequence shall be allowed to participate in The Masters in 2023, organisers at Augusta Nationwide have confirmed.
Masters chairman Fred Ridley mentioned that their final focus is to deliver collectively ‘a pre-eminent discipline of golfers’ and they’ll invite gamers who’re eligible below their present standards.
Phil Mickelson is of six previous Masters champions presently competing within the LIV Golf Sequence
It means earlier champions comparable to Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson, Charl Schwartzel and Phil Mickelson shall be at The Masters in April. Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka are among the many LIV gamers who may also qualify because of successful a serious championship within the final 5 years.
In a press release launched on Tuesday, Masters chairman Fred Ridley mentioned: “From its inception in 1934, the aim of the Masters Event has been to learn the sport of golf. Every April, the Masters assembles the world’s main golfers to compete for the Inexperienced Jacket and a spot in historical past. It supplies a stage for followers to expertise dramatic moments of competitors on the highest stage and promotes the game domestically and overseas.
“By way of the years, legends of the sport have competed and received at Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership. Champions like Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Gary Participant, Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods have turn out to be heroes to golfers of all ages. They’ve impressed some to comply with of their footsteps and so many others to play and benefit from the recreation. They’ve supported the game and, thus, all who profit from it. They’ve proven respect for individuals who got here earlier than them and blazed a path for future generations. Golf is best due to them.
“Regrettably, latest actions have divided males’s skilled golf by diminishing the virtues of the sport and the significant legacies of those that constructed it. Though we’re dissatisfied in these developments, our focus is to honour the custom of bringing collectively a pre-eminent discipline of golfers this coming April. Due to this fact, as invites are despatched this week, we are going to invite these eligible below our present standards to compete within the 2023 Masters Event. As we now have mentioned up to now, we take a look at each side of the Event every year, and any modifications or modifications to invitation standards for future Tournaments shall be introduced in April.”
Martin Slumbers, chief govt of The R&A, mentioned in July that there have been no plans to ban LIV golfers from competing within the 2023 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, though, like Ridley, he mentioned that qualification guidelines had been continually below evaluation, and didn’t rule out future modifications.