New Qualification Criteria For The Masters And The Open Announced

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA – APRIL 13: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland holds the trophy after receiving the Green Jacket following his victory in a playoff during the final round of the 2025 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 13, 2025 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)

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Augusta National Golf Club and The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (The R&A) jointly announced plans to align qualification criteria for The Masters Tournament and The Open Championship, which are set to take effect immediately. The changes include automatic qualification for invitation to winners of several new national open championships for The Masters Tournament, as well as changes to qualification criteria for winners of select PGA Tour events. According to The R&A, these changes “will ensure strong international pathways into both major championships from several professional tours, recognizing the global strength of elite professional golf.”

Augusta National Golf Club Chairman Fred Ridley echoed a similar sentiment. Ridley stated “The Masters Tournament has long recognized the significance of having international representation among its invitees…”

Beginning with The 2026 Masters Tournament, Augusta National Golf Club has added automatic invitation for winners of the Scottish Open, Spanish Open, Japan Open, Hong Kong Open, Australian Open, and South African Open. The addition of these select national open championships should help to raise the profile of these tournaments, attracting members of other tours as well as players outside the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings who are otherwise not already exempt for invitation to The Masters Tournament.

Additionally, qualification criteria for The Masters Tournament with respect to winners of PGA Tour events has also been amended. Invitations will now only be awarded to individual winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation (500 point minimum) that is applied to the season-ending Tour Championship.

The move by Augusta National Golf Club requiring full-point allocations being applied to the season-ending Tour Championship will result in the end of automatic invitations for the PGA Tour Fall Series winners. The PGA Tour Fall Season typically comprises weaker fields, with players with FedEx Cup rankings 50 and higher competing for spots in Signature Events, and for some, PGA Tour status for 2026. In 2024, all eight winners in the Fall Season were not already eligible for invitation to The Masters Tournament.

The R&A will also exempt current champions of the Scottish Open, Spanish Open, Japan Open, Hong Kong Open, Australian Open, and South African Open into The Open Championship. The Australian Open, South African Open, and Japan Open are already part of The Open Qualifying Series, and so the addition of the invitation to The Masters Tournament for winners in Spain, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, and South Africa is a big deal, aligning with Chairman Ridley’s stated purpose for international representation at The Masters Tournament.

This is the first significant change to The Masters Tournament’s invitation criteria since 2013 and comes shortly after newly minted PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp signaled that competitive changes may be coming to the PGA Tour. Rolapp stated, “We’re going to focus on the evolution of our competitive model and the corresponding media products and sponsorship elements and model of the entire sport. The goal is not incremental change. The goal is significant change,” said Rolapp of the PGA Tour’s new Future Competition Committee.

It’s unclear what changes Rolapp intends to make. Some changes could include schedule consolidation, which may target events during the PGA Tour Fall Series. The announcement by Augusta National Golf Club and The R&A may ultimately help schedule consolidation further along, as it certainly makes the fall events less relevant with respect to The Masters Tournament.

Given these new qualification arrangements, fans may be seeing some fresh new faces come 2026 at The Masters Tournament, which begins April 9, and The Open Championship, which makes a return to Royal Birkdale beginning July 16.