The 88th hosting of The Masters is still over five months away yet here we are talking of the field teeing-up next April.
Of course, we are just shy of six weeks away when those within the top-50 on the World Rankings, and not already exempt, are afforded an invitation so I guess we head closer ot the festive season we can give the year’s traditional first major a mention.
The US magazine Golf Digest has release a list of 77 players, including 18 former Augusta National champions, who are exempt to compete next April.
Those include:
Ludvig Aberg
Byeong Hun An
Jose Luis Ballester (Reigning U.S. Amateur Champion)
Evan Beck (Reigning U.S. Mid-Am Champion)
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Akshay Bhatia
Keegan Bradley
Sam Burns
Rafael Campos
Patrick Cantlay
Wyndham Clark
Fred Couples
Cameron Davis
Bryson DeChambeau
Thomas Detry
Nico Echavarria
Austin Eckroat
Tony Finau
Matt Fitzpatrick
Tommy Fleetwood
Sergio Garcia
Brian Harman
Tyrrell Hatton
Russell Henley
Tom Hoge
Max Homa
Billy Horschel
Viktor Hovland
Sungjae Im
Dustin Johnson
Zach Johnson
Noah Kent (U.S. Amateur Runner-Up)
Chris Kirk
Patton Kizzire
Brooks Koepka
Bernhard Langer
Thriston Lawrence
Shane Lowry
Robert MacIntyre
Hideki Matsuyama
Matt McCarty
Rory McIlroy
Phil Mickelson
Collin Morikawa
Jose Maria Olazabal
Jacob Skov Olesen (Reigning British Amateur Champion)
Matthieu Pavon
Taylor Pendrith
J.T. Poston
Jon Rahm
Aaron Rai
Patrick Reed
Davis Riley
Justin Rose
Xander Schauffele
Scottie Scheffler
Adam Schenk
Charl Schwartzel
Adam Scott
Vijay Singh
Cameron Smith
Jordan Spieth
Sepp Straka
Hiroshi Tai (Reigning NCAA Division I Men’s Individual Champion)
Sahith Theegala
Justin Thomas
Davis Thompson
Jhonattan Vegas
Bubba Watson
Mike Weir
Danny Willett
Tiger Woods
Cameron Young
Kevin Yu
Will Zalatoris
Past Masters Champions who aren’t expected to play
Tommy Aaron
Angel Cabrera
Charles Coody
Ben Crenshaw
Nick Faldo
Raymond Floyd
Trevor Immelman
Sandy Lyle
Larry Mize
Jack Nicklaus
Mark O’Meara
Gary Player
Craig Stadler
Tom Watson
Ian Woosnam
Fuzzy Zoeller
Of note, the decision early last month by 19-year-od Chinese-born Wenyi Ding, who won the Asia-Pacific Amateur, to pro has ruled him out of an automatic Masters invitation as well as a start in the 2025 Open Championship.
Some of those currently inside the top-50 on the World Rankings but are not yet in the 2025 Masters field include this week’s BMW Australian PGA defending champ, Min Woo Lee and the present World No. 48.
And one of those who will be keen to get back to Augusta will be Ireland’s Seamus Power, currently ranked 55th in teh world and who contested the 2022 and 2023 Masters.
