The Masters field 2026: Who has qualified for Augusta National and how did golfers earn major invite?
The winner of this week's Valero Texas Open on the PGA Tour will qualify for The Masters; Rory McIlroy to return as defending champion at Augusta National, live on Sky Sports Golf from April 9-12, with Northern Irishman's victory last year completing carer Grand Slam
Thursday 2 April 2026 20:56, UK
Who is in the field for The Masters this year? How have players secured an invite to Augusta National?
Here's the confirmed line-up for the opening major of 2026, live on Sky Sports…
There are 91 players - as of April 2 - scheduled to feature from April 9-12, where Rory McIlroy returns as defending champion after last year's dramatic play-off victory over Justin Rose to complete the career Grand Slam.
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World No 1 Scottie Scheffler is the pre-tournament favourite to win the event for a third time in four years, while Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm are among the LIV Golf League contingent chasing further major success.
Woods was already an injury doubt, having undergone Achilles surgery last March and back surgery last October, with the former world No 1 still yet to return to competitive action since missing the cut at The Open in July 2024.
Six-time major champion Phil Mickelson withdrew on April 2 and confirmed he would be out for 'an extended period of time', as his family 'continues to navigate a personal health matter', having already missed all-but one LIV Golf League event this season due to the same reason.
Five more players saw their Masters invites confirmed at the Texas Children's Houston Open on March 29, where Gary Woodland claimed a five-shot victory and a first PGA Tour title since the 2019 US Open.
Daniel Berger, Jake Knapp, Nicolai Hojgaard and Matt McCarty stayed inside the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) to earn their Masters spots, with the final place going to the winner of the Valero Texas Open - if not already exempt - on April 5.
How do players qualify for The Masters?
The top 50 in the world at the end of the previous calendar year earn an invite, as do those inside the top 50 during the week before the tournament takes place, while previous winners hold a lifetime exemption and any other major winners from the last five years are also included.
The top 12 and ties from last year's Masters are allowed to return, as are the top four and ties from the other three majors in 2025, with every winner of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation towards the season-ending Tour Championship also get a spot.
A new exemption category for this year's contest has seen additional invites given to winners of six national Opens - the Genesis Scottish Open, Spanish Open, Japan Open, Hong Kong Open, Australian Open and the South African Open.
The last three winners of The Players and all qualifiers for last season's Tour Championship are included, plus the champions of several of the world's biggest amateur titles, while The Masters committee can invite an international player who has not qualified.
Invites are given to the two finalists of the US Amateur and the winner of The Amateur Championship, along with the winners of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, Latin America Amateur Championship, the US Mid-Amateur and the NCCA Division 1 Men's Individual Champion.
Who has qualified for The Masters?
Correct as of March 30; USA unless stated
(x) denotes amateurs; # is a debutant; ^ received a special invitation
Ludvig Åberg (Swe)
Daniel Berger
Akshay Bhatia
Keegan Bradley
# Michael Brennan
Jacob Bridgeman
Sam Burns
Angel Cabrera (Arg)
Brian Campbell
Patrick Cantlay
Wyndham Clark
Corey Conners (Can)
Fred Couples
Jason Day (Aus)
Bryson DeChambeau
Nicolas Echavarria (Col)
Harris English
# Ethan Fang (x)
Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng)
Tommy Fleetwood (Eng)
Ryan Fox (Nzl)
Sergio Garcia (Esp)
# Ryan Gerard
# Chris Gotterup
Max Greyserman
# Ben Griffin
# Harry Hall (Eng)
Brian Harman
Tyrrell Hatton (Eng)
Russell Henley
# Jackson Herrington (x)
Rasmus Hojgaard (Den)
Nicolai Hojgaard (Den)
# Brandon Holtz (x)
Max Homa
Viktor Hovland (Nor)
# Mason Howell (x)
Sungjae Im (Kor)
Casey Jarvis (Rsa)
Dustin Johnson
Zach Johnson
# Naoyuki Kataoka (Jpn)
# Johnny Keefer
Michael Kim
Si Woo Kim (Kor)
Kurt Kitayama
Jake Knapp
Brooks Koepka
# Fifa Laopakdee (x) (Tha)
Min Woo Lee (Aus)
Haotong Li (Chn)
Shane Lowry (Irl)
Robert MacIntyre (Sco)
Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)
Matt McCarty
Rory McIlroy (NIrl)
# Tom McKibbin (NIrl)
Maverick McNealy
Collin Morikawa
# Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (Den)
Alex Noren (Swe)
# Andrew Novak
Jose Maria Olazabal (Esp)
Carlos Ortiz (Mex)
# Marco Penge (Eng)
Aldrich Potgieter (Rsa)
# Mateo Pulcini (x) (Arg)
Jon Rahm (Esp)
Aaron Rai (Eng)
Patrick Reed
# Kristoffer Reitan (Nor)
Davis Riley
Justin Rose (Eng)
Xander Schauffele
Scottie Scheffler
Charl Schwartzel (Rsa)
Adam Scott (Aus)
Vijay Singh (Fij)
Cameron Smith (Aus)
J.J. Spaun
Jordan Spieth
# Sam Stevens
Sepp Straka (Aut)
Nick Taylor (Can)
Justin Thomas
# Sami Valimaki (Fin)
Bubba Watson
Mike Weir (Can)
Danny Willett (Eng)
Gary Woodland
Cameron Young
Which past champions are not expected to feature?
Along with Woods, Tommy Aaron, Charles Coody, Ben Crenshaw, Sir Nick Faldo, Raymond Floyd, Trevor Immelman, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Phil Mickelson, Larry Mize, Jack Nicklaus, Mark O'Meara, Gary Player, Craig Stadler, Tom Watson and Ian Woosnam are not set to feature.
When is The Masters live on Sky Sports?
Sky Sports continues to be the home of The Masters in the UK and Ireland, with more full action from tournament days than ever before and live coverage from every day that week.
Live coverage from practice days is available on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, when the traditional Masters Par-3 contest also takes place, ahead of wall-to-wall tournament coverage getting under way on Thursday April 9 at 2pm.
Featured Group action and updates from around the course are available to enjoy on Sky Sports Golf until the global broadcast window brings full live coverage from 6pm over the first two days, with that available from the earlier time of 5pm over the weekend.
There will be lots of extra action to enjoy on Sky Sports+, with plenty of bonus feeds - including Featured Holes and Featured Groups - allowing you to follow players' progress through various parts of Augusta's famous layout. Sky Sports subscribers can download the Sky Sports App for free to watch The Masters on their phones.
Watch The Masters exclusively live from April 9-12 on Sky Sports Golf. Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract.
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