As the first Major of the year approaches, the field for the 2026 Masters is taking shape as contenders line to battle Rory McIlroy as he defends the title he won in epic fashion at Augusta National last year.
Those who ended the year inside the world's top-50 earned those treasured invites, and players are being added to the start list all the time as PGA Tour winners and champions of selected events around the world join the field.
The big milestone is always the end of the year world ranking, with those finishing in the top 50 who are not already exempt via other criteria finally able to breathe a sigh of relief and begin planning for Augusta National in April.
The likes of Aaron Rai, Alex Noren, Kristoffer Reitan, Max Greyserman, Michael Brennan, Michael Kim, Sami Valimaki, Rasmus Hojgaard, Min Woo Lee, Si Woo Kim, and John Keefer all bagged their top 50 spots after recent results while Ryan Gerard went the extra 10,000 miles from his home in America to Mauritius in order to achieve his Masters dream.
After dropping down to World No.57, Gerard climbed back into the top 50 to secure a Masters debut despite missing out on winning the DP World Tour's Mauritius Open in a playoff against Jayden Schaper.
The winner of the 2025 Barracuda Championship knew he had to finish in a two-way tie for fourth or better if he was to reach The Masters, and although he was left disappointed in terms of lifting the trophy, there was an incredibly good consolation prize waiting for him.
It was also particularly impressive from Brennan and Keefer who have qualified despite starting not even starting 2025 on the PGA Tour - Brennan earning an exemption into the Bank of Utah Championship and going on to win, while Keefer won twice on the Korn Ferry Tour and managed to climb into the top 50.
Meanwhile, as part of a revised Masters qualifying criteria, winners of several national Opens have and will receive Masters invites - with Denmark's Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen added following his Australian Open triumph.
He joined Chris Gotterup (Scottish Open), Marco Penge (Spanish Open), Naoyuki Kataoka (Japan Open) and Tom McKibbin (Hong Kong Open) in earning places at Augusta.
Gotterup, Penge and Neergaard-Petersen all would have qualified anyway via their world ranking at the end of 2025.
Mateo Pulcini won the Latin America Amateur Championship to book his place in The Masters, and a further place is available for the winner of the South African Open.
There are further chances to play your way into The Masters in 2026, as winners of PGA Tour events awarding full points claim a spot in the field, along with anyone else inside the the world’s top 50 the week before The Masters.
McKibbin is one of 11 LIV Golf players who have qualified for The Masters, joining the likes of Bryson DeChambeau and Tyrrell Hatton and a number of former champions such as Jon Rahm, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia and Bubba Watson.
2026 Masters field - As it stands
(a) denotes amateur | *denotes making Masters debut
- Ludvig Aberg, 13, 18, 25
- Akshay Bhatia, 18, 25
- Keegan Bradley, 17, 18, 25
- *Michael Brennan, 25
- *Jacob Bridgeman, 18
- Sam Burns, 18, 25
- Angel Cabrera, 1
- Brian Campbell, 17
- Patrick Cantlay, 18, 25
- Wyndham Clark, 2, 15, 25
- Corey Conners, 13, 18, 25
- Fred Couples, 1
- Jason Day, 13
- Bryson DeChambeau, 2, 13, 16, 25
- Nicolas Echavarria 17
- Harris English, 13, 15, 16, 18, 25
- *Ethan Fang (a), 8
- Matt Fitzpatrick, 2, 15, 25
- Tommy Fleetwood, 17, 18, 25
- Ryan Fox, 17, 25
- Sergio Garcia, 1
- *Ryan Gerard, 25
- *Chris Gotterup, 15, 17 (Scottish Open), 18, 19, 25
- Max Greyserman, 25
- *Ben Griffin, 17, 18, 25
- *Harry Hall, 18
- Brian Harman, 3, 18, 25
- Tyrrell Hatton, 14, 25
- Russell Henley, 18, 25
- *Jackson Herrington (a), 7
- Rasmus Hojgaard, 25
- *Brandon Holtz (a), 11
- Max Homa, 13
- Viktor Hovland, 14, 18, 25
- *Mason Howell (a), 7
- Sungjae Im, 13, 18, 25
- Casey Jarvis 24
- Dustin Johnson, 1
- Zach Johnson, 1, 13
- *Naoyuki Kataoka, 21 (Japan Open)
- *Johnny Keefer, 25
- Michael Kim, 25
- Si Woo Kim, 25
- Kurt Kitayama, 17, 25
- Brooks Koepka, 4
- *Fifa Laopakdee (a), 9
- Min Woo Lee, 25
- Haotong Li, 15
- Shane Lowry, 18, 25
- Robert MacIntyre, 14, 18, 25
- Hideki Matsuyama, 1, 18, 25
- Rory McIlroy, 1, 5, 18, 25
- *Tom McKibbin, 22 (Hong Kong Open)
- Maverick McNealy, 18, 25
- Phil Mickelson, 1, 4
- Collin Morikawa, 3, 17, 18, 25
- *Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, 23 (Australian Open), 25
- Alex Noren, 25
- *Andrew Novak, 18, 25
- Jose Maria Olazabal, 1
- Carlos Ortiz, 14
- *Marco Penge, 20 (Spanish Open), 25
- Aldrich Potgieter, 17
- *Mateo Pulcini 10 (a)
- Jon Rahm, 1, 2
- Aaron Rai, 25
- Patrick Reed, 1, 13, 25
- *Kristoffer Reitan, 25
- Davis Riley, 16
- Justin Rose, 13, 17, 18, 25
- Xander Schauffele 3, 4, 13, 25
- Scottie Scheffler, 1, 3, 4, 5, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 25
- Charl Schwartzel, 1
- Adam Scott, 1
- Vijay Singh, 1
- Cameron Smith, 3
- J.J. Spaun, 2, 14, 17, 18, 25
- Jordan Spieth, 1
- *Sam Stevens, 25
- Sepp Straka, 17, 18, 25
- Nick Taylor, 18
- Justin Thomas, 4, 17, 18, 25
- *Sami Valimaki, 25
- Bubba Watson, 1
- Mike Weir, 1
- Danny Willett, 1
- Tiger Woods, 1
- Cameron Young, 14, 17, 18, 25
2026 Masters qualifying criteria
- 1: Masters champions (lifetime)
- 2: US Open champions (five years)
- 3: Open champions (five years)
- 4: PGA Championship winners (five years)
- 5: The Players Championship winners (three years)
- 6: Current Olympic gold medalist (one year)
- 7: Current US Amateur champion and runner-up (one year)
- 8: Current British Amateur champion (one year)
- 9: Current Asia-Pacific Amateur champion (one year)
- 10: Current Latin America Amateur champion (one year)
- 11: Current US Mid-Amateur champion (one year)
- 12: Current NCAA Division I Men's Individual champion (one year)
- 13: First 12 players, including ties, in the previous year's Masters
- 14: First four players, including ties, in the previous year's US Open
- 15: First four players, including ties, in the previous year's Open Championship
- 16: First four players, including ties, in the previous year's PGA Championship
- 17: Individual winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation applied to the season-ending Tour Championship
- 18: Those qualifying and eligible for the previous year's season-ending Tour Championship
- 19: Current Scottish Open champion (one year)
- 20: Current Spanish Open champion (one year)
- 21: Current Japan Open champion (one year)
- 22: Current Hong Kong Open champion (one year)
- 23: Current Australian Open champion (one year)
- 24: Current South African Open champion (one year)
- 25: Top 50 in final Official World Golf Ranking for 2025
- 26: Top 50 on Official World Golf Ranking the week before 2026 Masters
