Rickie Fowler Among Biggest Non-LIV Golf Names To Miss 2023 Masters

It's the first Major of the year and as always with such a small Masters field there are a number of star names that have missed out on the iconic drive down Magnolia Lane.

Arguably the biggest of the perks that come with winning The Masters is that past champions get invited back each and every year, and unless you're a past Masters champion, a Major champion in the last five years or a world's top-50 player, it can be tricky to make the sub-100 player field.

This rules out most of the LIV Golf players who haven't won Majors in the past five years or a Masters title, as the Saudi-backed circuit still doesn't offer world ranking points and most of its players are dropping down the list.

Despite a total of 18 LIV players in the Masters field, big names such as Paul Casey, Lee Westwood, Marc Leishman and Ian Poulter are among the LIV players missing out, mainly due to significant world ranking drops.

But aside from the LIV players, which big names from the PGA and DP World Tours aren't in this week's Masters? We take a look...

Rickie Fowler

Despite showing some great signs over the past 12 months, Rickie hasn't quite done enough to make it this year with his world ranking at 55th - just outside the cut-off point. This means he'll miss teeing it up at Augusta National for the third-consecutive year.

LUCAS HERBERT

The two-time DP World Tour winner and one-time PGA Tour winner has agonisingly missed out, with his world ranking currently at 52nd. Herbert lost to Rory McIlroy in the last-16 of the WGC-Match Play recently, with that result costing him a chance at making his second Masters appearance.

Webb Simpson

The former World No.4 misses his first Masters tournament since 2011 after slipping outside of the world's top 140. Simpson had his first top-10 since November 2021 at the recent Valspar Championship, but that was his final pre-Masters appearance.

Matt Kuchar

A run of T9-3 for Kuch leaves him at 51st in the world rankings and he is just missing his second successive Masters. The nine-time PGA Tour winner has played at Augusta 15 times, most notably in 1998 when his T21st finish earned him the Silver Cup as low amateur.

Joel Dahmen

The Netflix Full Swing star is one of the most popular players on the PGA Tour but he has never played in The Masters, and that won't be changing this year sadly. Dahmen, who was T10th at the US Open last year, currently ranks 99th in the world.

Thorbjorn Olesen

Despite two DP World Tour victories in the last year, at the 2022 British Masters and 2023 Thailand Classic, Olesen has not quite made the field this time around. The Dane, who famously took down Jordan Spieth 5&4 at the 2018 Ryder Cup, has played in the Masters three times and was a very impressive T6th in his debut in 2013.

Victor Perez

Another European who has just missed out is Victor Perez, with the Frenchman currently 62nd in the world - up from 107th at the turn of the year. Perez won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in January, a DP World Tour Rolex Series event, and he currently ranks 2nd in the Race to Dubai. The Masters is a tough field to make!