Question: What Are the Masters Qualifications, the Qualifying Criteria to Make the Field?
Answer: The Masters golf tournament is technically an invitational. But that doesn't mean that a committee of Augusta National Golf Club members sits down and decides who gets to play and who doesn't. There are qualifying criteria for playing in The Masters, and a golfer who meets those criteria receives an invitation to play.
So, what are those Masters qualifications? Changes and tweaks to the qualifying criteria are made over time, but the most recent Masters qualification requirements are listed here. Players who meet any of the following criteria receive an invitation to play in The Masters:
- Former winners of The Masters
- Winners of the last five U.S. Opens
- Winners of the last five British Opens
- Winners of the last five PGA Championships
- Winners of the last three Players Championships
- Winner and runner-up from the last U.S. Amateur Championship
- Winner of the last British Amateur Championship
- Winner of the last Asian Amateur Championship
- Winner of the last U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship
- Winner of the last U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship
- The top 16 finishers (including ties) from last year's Masters tournament
- The top 8 finishers (including ties), from last year's U.S. Open
- The top 4 finishers (including ties) from last year's British Open
- The top 4 finishers (including ties) from last year's PGA Championship
- The top 30 finishers on last year's PGA Tour money list
- Winners of PGA Tour events from the previous Masters through this year's Masters, providing those tournaments awarded full FedEx Cup points (no opposite-field tournaments qualify)
- All players who qualified for last year's Tour Championship
- The Top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking at the end of the previous year
- The Top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking published in the week prior to this year's Masters
These Masters qualifications usually result in a tournament field of from 90 to 100 players.
