The Masters Has Made a Big Change to Its Qualifying Criteria

The Masters Tournament is making changes to its qualification criteria that will shake up its field beginning in 2026.

Next year winners of fall PGA Tour events will no longer receive automatic invitations to the tournament. The Masters will instead give six direct exemptions to various national open winners.

The announcement, made along with the R&A, includes an emphasis on national opens for British Open qualifying.

Starting in time for the 2026 Masters, winners of the Scottish Open, Spanish Open, Japan Open, Hong Kong Open, Australian Open and the South African Open will receive invitations to the Masters.

Along with that announcement, the Masters sent out a list of its 26 tournament exemption categories, one which was changed to state that winners of PGA Tour events “that award a full-point allocation (FedEx points) applied to the season-ending Tour Championship” would receive invites.

That means the seven FedExCup Fall events that begin with the Procore Championship in two weeks will no longer see the winner automatically earn a spot at the year’s first major. Those players are mostly competing to improve their position on the final FedEx list to earn spots in signature events or to keep their playing cards for 2026.

The Masters will continue to give invites to the top 50 in the world at the end of 2025 as well as in the week prior to the Masters Tournament.

“The Masters Tournament has long recognized the significance of having international representation among its invitees,” said Masters chairman Fred Ridley in a statement. “We, along with the R&A, have a shared commitment to the global game and are proud to work together. Today’s announcement strengthens our organizations’ collective vision of rewarding top talent around the world who rise to the top of historic national open championships. We hope this formal recognition shines a bright light on these players and the events they will represent at the Masters and The Open, beginning next year.”

The Open said it would be announcing its list of Open Qualifying Series tournaments next month. The list will include 15 events in 13 countries.

“We take great pride in the range of qualification routes we offer to players around the world through the Open Qualifying Series,” said Mark Darbon, CEO of the R&A in a statement. “We share the same goal as Augusta National to offer places in both the Open and the Masters to players competing in national opens and by doing so to help to showcase and strengthen our sport in those regions. This creates an outstanding opportunity for players in all parts of the world to qualify and we firmly believe this will continue to enrich the quality of the fields in both major championships.”

2026 Masters Tournament Qualifications

1. Masters Tournament Champions (Lifetime)
2. U.S. Open Champions (Honorary, non-competing after five years)
3. The Open Champions (Honorary, non-competing after five years)
4. PGA Champions (Honorary, non-competing after five years)
5. Winners of the Players Championship (Three years)
6. Current Olympic Gold Medalist (One Year)
7. Current U.S. Amateur Champion (7-A) (Honorary, non-competing after one year) and the Runner-up (7- B) to the current U.S. Amateur Champion
8. Current The Amateur Champion (Honorary, non-competing after one year)
9. Current Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion (One year)
10. Current Latin America Amateur Champion (One year)
11. Current U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion (One year)
12. Current NCAA Division I Men's Individual Champion (One year)
13. The first 12 players, including ties, in the previous year's Masters Tournament
14. The first 4 players, including ties, in the previous year's U.S. Open
15. The first 4 players, including ties, in the previous year's The Open Championship
16. The first 4 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. The 50 leaders on the final Official World Golf Ranking for the previous calendar year
26. The 50 leaders on the final Official World Golf Ranking published during the week prior to the current Masters Tournament The Masters Committee, at its discretion, also invites international players not otherwise qualified.