It’s a question we all are asking: What will Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters do about LIV Golf? Only club chairman Fred Ridley can answer it, but we’ve all speculated what the options might be.
A ban seems very unlikely. As of now, banning LIV players from the Masters would mean excluding five former champions with lifetime exemptions: Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio García, Charl Schwartzel and Patrick Reed. That number of green-jacket winners accepting the Saudi money may potentially grow even longer. Kicking them out would diminish the Masters and spoil its sacred traditions such as the Champions Dinner.
So what can Augusta National possibly do to deter players from abandoning the PGA and DP World tours for the obscene signing bonuses and prize pool of the LIV Golf series of limited-field, 54-hole, no-cut exhibition events?
Perhaps more than you think and in more subtle ways one would come to expect from the folks in Augusta. Tinkering with the qualification methods would be the easiest and most likely route the club might take.
Since the very beginning, the Masters has always jiggered its qualifications. It’s a tradition as common as the changes it’s made to keep its golf course up to date. It’s added world rankings as the main equation. Taken away money list entries in favor of tour points systems. Taken away and given back automatic entries to PGA Tour winners. Reduced spots given for some amateur standards – such as U.S. Amateur quarterfinalists as well as Walker Cup and Eisenhower Trophy participants – while adding other amateur avenues such as the Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Mid-Amateur winners.
Masters qualifications are never something to be taken for granted – the USGA still hedges by saying that “by tradition” its amateur champion and runner-up are “likely” invited to the next year’s tournament, provided they remain amateurs.
A few surgical tweaks could have a major impact on deterring defections to LIV Golf.
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