Does LIV Golf Need A Direct Masters Qualifying Route?

Just 11 LIV Golf stars qualified for the 2026 Masters, down one from 12 last year despite the introduction of Official World Golf Ranking points.

There are direct paths to qualify from LIV Golf into both The Open and US Open, but should The Masters follow suit?

There are only 10 LIV Golf players in the field for The Masters as Phil Mickelson is not taking part this year, and it's largely the same faces that are teeing it up again at Augusta.

Only two new players different from last year's group qualified this year and not due to playing on LIV - with Tom McKibbin getting in by winning the Hong Kong Open and Carlos Ortiz qualifying via a top-four finish at last year's US Open.

Those two have basically replaced Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed after they both left LIV Golf, so there's no real movement from the team-based Tour in terms of Masters qualifiers.

Jon Rahm, Charl Schwartzel, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson and Dustin Johnson have lifetime exemptions as past champions, while Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith are still getting in on Major winning exemptions - but time on those is running out.

Tyrrell Hatton plays well enough in Majors and on the DP World Tour to get exemptions but outside of that the OWGR points allocation on the LIV tour hasn't yet started to make a difference.

Some will say it's the price to pay for cashing in to join LIV, but there are players like Joaquin Niemann, Abraham Ancer, Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen among others who you'd expect to have made Major fields.

Augusta National chairman on LIV 'issues' for OWGR points

Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley spoke of his pride at including the winners of six national Opens in the field this year, McKibbin being one as Hong Kong Open champion, but made no mention of LIV Golf.

"We will continue to explore all avenues to expand the game and its popularity around the world," he said in his pre-Masters press conference but that seemed aimed more at expanding the national Open route rather than the direct LIV route.

As for LIV's OWGR points, Ridley said that it's down to CEO Scott O'Neil to fix the remaining issues if the league wants to grow its allocation.

"I think what our interest is in that role is making sure that the integrity of the OWGR remains intact," said Ridley.

"An underlying certain purpose is to identify the best players in the world through the ranking system, which is very transparent, is very data driven.

"As it relates to LIV, the issues involved in LIV getting or not getting ranking points has been public in Trevor Immelman's letter to LIV a while back. And several of the issues that were raised have been addressed, which resulted in LIV receiving limited points.

"They know what those issues are. Scott O'Neil has a copy of that letter, as I'm sure most of you do as well, and hopefully there will be efforts made to address those issues and allow them to receive more ranking points.

"The purpose of the system is to make sure the best players in the world have an opportunity to play in the best tournaments."