Dustin Johnson, Masters champion in 2020, will get an invite for next year’s tournament
(Picture: Getty Images)Players competing on the LIV Golf breakaway tour will be allowed into the field for the 2023 Masters.
The golf world this year has been dominated by disputes over the Saudi-backed circuit, with the likes of Cameron Smith and Dustin Johnson defecting from the PGA Tour for huge sums of money.
LIV CEO Greg Norman has been at the centre of much of the controversy, with both Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods believing there is no feasible path to conciliation while he remains in charge.
As it stands, LIV players have been banned indefinitely from the PGA Tour, while the status of those on the DP World Tour, including Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter, will be addressed in a February court case.
There have been suggestions that players would also be banned from golf’s four majors, though the absence of world ranking points for the LIV events means qualification will start to become an issue. Bryson DeChambeau ended 2021 fifth in the world, but now sits 65th.
The Masters is a slightly different case, with a smaller field invited as a result of various criteria, giving more power to Augusta National to make their own decisions.
Chairman Fred Ridley has now confirmed that LIV players eligible to tee it up at the first major of 2023 will not be banned from doing so in April.
“Regrettably, recent actions have divided men’s professional golf by diminishing the virtues of the game and the meaningful legacies of those who built it,” a statement read.
“Although we are disappointed in these developments, our focus is to honor the tradition of bringing together a preeminent field of golfers this coming April.
“Therefore, as invitations are sent this week, we will invite those eligible under our current criteria to compete in the 2023 Masters Tournament.
“As we have said in the past, we look at every aspect of the Tournament each year, and any modifications or changes to invitation criteria for future Tournaments will be announced in April.”
That is hugely significant for a number of LIV players who had already qualified. Previous champions and those in the top 50 of the world rankings at the end of the calendar year are among those to earn their spot.
Smith, Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau are among the LIV players who will get their invite and return to Augusta should they choose to do so, with the tournament getting underway on April 6.
It remains to be seen what is decided regarding the other three majors, with golf’s biggest tournaments now taking on even more significance should they be the only four weeks in the calendar when players from all tours are able to compete against each other.
