What began 101 days earlier has sadly come to an end. Is it just us, or did the 2025 men’s major season fly by with Rory McIlroy, J.J. Spaun and Scottie Scheffler twice walking off with the hardware—and endless storylines following in their wake?
Now golf fans are in for the long wait—263 days to be precise—until the first round of the 2026 Masters.
Mind you, there is lots of golf to come between now and then, the FedEx Cup Playoffs, Ryder Cup, not to mention one last women’s major (AIG Women’s British Open) and the Walker Cup at Cypress Point(!).
In an attempt to hold you over until the golf world returns to Augusta National once more next April, we compiled this early look at everybody who has already earned a spot in the field for next year’s Masters. We write this post with a caveat: We’re working off the presumption that the qualifying criteria for the 2026 event will mirror what was used in 2025.
To date, the number who have qualified, including past champions unlikely to play next year, is 69, the latest editions coming on Sunday at the British Open when Haotong Li’s T-4 finish earned him an invite to Augusta.
Ludvig Aberg, 13
Keegan Bradley, 17 (Travelers)
Angel Cabrera, 1
Brian Campbell, 17 (John Deere Classic)
Wyndham Clark, 2, 15
Corey Conners, 13
Fred Couples, 1
Jason Day, 13
Bryson DeChambeau, 2, 13, 16
Harris English, 13, 15, 16
Ethan Fang (a), 8
Matt Fitzpatrick, 2, 15
Ryan Fox, 17 (RBC Canadian Open)
Sergio Garcia, 1
Chris Gotterup, 15, 17 (Scottish Open)
Ben Griffin, 17 (Charles Schwab)
Brian Harman, 3
Tyrrell Hatton, 14
Max Homa, 13
Viktor Hovland, 14
Sungjae Im , 13
Zach Johnson, 1, 13
Dustin Johnson, 1
Brooks Koepka, 4
Michael La Sasso (a), 12
Haotong Li, 15
Robert MacIntyre, 14
Hideki Matsuyama, 1
Rory McIlroy, 1, 5, 13
Phil Mickelson, 1, 4
Collin Morkiawa, 3
Jose Maria Olazabal, 1
Carlos Ortiz, 14
Aldrich Potgieter, 17 (Rocket Classic)
Jon Rahm, 1, 2
Patrick Reed, 1, 13
Davis Riley, 16
Justin Rose, 13
Xander Schauffele 3, 4, 13
Scottie Scheffler, 1, 4, 5, 13, 15, 16, 17 (Byron Nelson, PGA, Memorial, British Open)
Charl Schwartzel, 1
Adam Scott, 1
Vijay Singh, 1
Cameron Smith, 3
J.J. Spaun, 2, 14, 17 (US Open)
Jordan Spieth, 1
Sepp Straka, 17 (Truist)
Justin Thomas, 4, 17 (RBC Heritage)
Bubba Watson, 1
Mike Weir, 1
Danny Willett, 1
Tiger Woods, 1
Cameron Young, 14
PAST CHAMPIONS NOT EXPECTED TO PLAY
Tommy Aaron
Charles Coody
Ben Crenshaw
Nick Faldo
Raymond Floyd
Trevor Immelman
Bernhard Langer
Sandy Lyle
Larry Mize
Jack Nicklaus
Mark O’Meara
Gary Player
Craig Stadler
Tom Watson
Ian Woosnam
Fuzzy Zoeller
Masters qualifying criteria
1: Masters champions (lifetime)
2: U.S. Open champions (five years)
3: Open champions (five years)
4: PGA champion (five years)
5: Players champion (three years)
6: Current Olympic gold medalist (one year)
7: Current U.S. Amateur champion and runner-up (one year)
8: Current British Amateur champion (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: First 12 players, including ties, in the previous year’s Masters
14: First 4 players, including ties, in the previous year’s U.S. Open
15: First 4 players, including ties, in the previous year’s Open Championship
16: First 4 players, including ties, in the previous year’s PGA Championship
17: Individual winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point FedEx Cup allocation, from previous Masters to current Masters
18: Those qualifying and eligible for the previous year’s season-ending Tour Championship
19: 50 leaders on the final Official World Golf Ranking for the previous calendar year
20: 50 leaders on the Official World Golf Ranking published during the week prior to the current Masters
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
