Why the Masters gave spots to Australian Open and five other national opens, according to the club chairman

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[Photo: Asia-Pacific Amateur]

Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said a surge in the percentage of international players competing in the Masters in recent years was the inspiration to award the winners of the Australian Open and five other national opens a spot into the April major in the future.

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It didn’t hurt, either, that an outspoken supporter of national opens, Rory McIlroy, was the reigning Masters champion when Augusta National and the R&A jointly made the announcement in August.

During a press conference at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Dubai, which also grants a place in the Masters and Open Championship fields to the winner, Ridley was speaking for the first time publicly since the announcement. He said international representation at the Masters compelled its tournament committee to reward historic national opens, creating invitation criteria to include the winners of the Australian Open, Scottish Open, South African Open, Spanish Open, Japan Open and Hong Kong Open.

Meanwhile, the Open Championship had for more than a decade included a range of tournaments in its Open Qualifying Series, which awards varying spots into the UK major. But recently, the R&A confirmed those six national opens as stops within the series. The already-completed Spanish and Japan Opens, won by England’s Marco Penge and Japan’s Naoyuki Kataoka, respectively, as well as next week’s Link Hong Kong Open, were given one spot into the 154th Open at Royal Birkdale. Three places into the links major will be given to each of the Australian, South African and Scottish Opens.

“These six opens [are] historical championships around the world that we and the R&A recognised in a joint statement recently,” Ridley said Thursday at the Emirates Golf Club. “International competition has always been a big part of the Masters Tournament. That representation internationally has grown over the years to where it’s pretty much 50/50, and maybe even a few more, international players. So, we thought it was appropriate to sort of carry on that tradition and the culture that we’ve established at the Masters.”

The 2025 Masters invited players from 27 countries and territories to make up the 92-man field, which surpassed the record of 25 at the 2015 Masters.

“Golf is a global game, and I think we always want to recognise that,” Ridley said. “We felt that not only were we living true to our values, but we also were hopefully maybe just as this championship has inspired young amateurs around the Asia-Pacific region, we hope that that incentive of awarding the winners an invitation, a spot in the Masters Tournament as well as the Open Championship, would also generate additional interest in those countries. I know that in Japan recently that was the case. I think it will be the case in all these countries. So we are very excited about that change in our qualifications.”

Asked how the Masters decided on those specific six national opens, Ridley said that history played a large role in several of them. The South African Open was created in 1903, the Australian Open in 1904 and the Spanish Open in 1912.

“These are really some historical championships that have been around for quite some time and have meant a lot in their countries,” Ridley said. “There are some great golfers that have come from a number of those countries, and we just felt that those six championships were appropriate to award invitations to the Masters.”

Added Mark Darbon, R&A CEO who was also in attendance at the Thursday press conference: “We [also] believe golf is a global game and we want the strongest international fields at our respective tournament and championship.”

McIlroy, who completed the career grand slam with his win at Augusta National in April, is the modern king of national opens. He owns nine total wins across seven national opens, including his dramatic playoff win at the Irish Open at The K Club last month. McIlroy will end his career-defining 2025 season at the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne Golf Club from December 4-7, a DP World Tour-sanctioned event. The 2013 Australian Open champion had repeatedly praised the Down Under tournament as one that “should almost be the fifth major The market down there is huge with potential.”

“We [were] certainly happy to hear Rory say that,” Ridley said. “He’s been a great representative of the game and a great representative as the Masters champion. I think his view of the game is a global game as well. Having his endorsement of that [national opens] concept we welcomed and I suspect that many other players like Rory felt the same way.”