LIV players cannot earn World Ranking points, hindering their chances of competing in majors, but which LIV Golfers will be at Augusta this week?
Now that LIV Golf is in its third season, it is harder than ever for its members to make it into these major fields. Some players have lifetime exemptions into tournaments, some are still hanging on to five-year eligibility from previous major winners, and others are still new to the league and clinging on to world ranking points from 2023.
However these players got here, there are 13 players from the breakaway league playing at the 2024 Masters, and we can go into more detail on each below.
Why are LIV Golfers Playing at The Masters?
There are multiple ways LIV Golfers have made their way into the 2024 Masters field, and we can look at each below:
- Former Masters Winners - (Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Charl Schwartzel, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed)
- Recent major winners (last five years) - Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka. Phil Mickelson would also qualify here for his 2021 PGA Championship win.
- Tour Championship Ranking - Tyrrell Hatton
- Special Invitation - Joaquin Niemann
- World Ranking (Top 50 at the end of 2023) - Adrian Meronk
Jon Rahm
Jon Rahm is the defending champion and will join an exclusive club if he can win back-to-back Green Jackets.
The Spaniard has played in 7 Masters, making the cut every time, finishing no worse than T27.
He has five top 10s at Augusta.
Rahm also finished T2 at the Open Championship in 2023, and T10 at the U.S. Open, so he comes into the week in great major form.
Brooks Koepka
Brooks Koepka in his own words 'choked' away his chance to win this event last year, and Jon Rahm was the beneficiary. He held a two-shot lead after 36 and 54 holes, but couldn't convert on Sunday.
The American finished T2 for his second runner-up finish at Augusta, and his 3rd top 10 overall in eight starts at The Masters.
The 2023 PGA Championship winner and five-time major champion will hope to finally break his duck at Augusta after two near-misses already in his career.
He's not in great form, having shot 77-77 over the weekend at Doral on the LIV Tour last week, but he's the type to shake that off. Threat.
Joaquin Niemann
The man from Chile has been so undeniably good in recent months, that Augusta felt it necessary to extend an invitation to him here. It is well deserved for the man who has won twice on the LIV Tour this season, and won the Australian Open on the DP World Tour at the tail-end of 2023, in an attempt to qualify via the world rankings.
Niemann posted his best finish at Augusta last season, finishing T16, but that is also his best-ever major finish, having never cracked the top 10 in the four biggest tournaments of the year. This might be his best chance now he's familiar with this course and in such great form. Chances.
Bryson DeChambeau
Despite once claiming The Masters would essentially be a Par 67 for him, he has never been able to better his T21 effort here as an Amateur. His last three starts here read T46-MC-MC, but he has found some form of late and seems to be ready to go again here.
His T4 finish at last year's PGA Championship was only his second major top 10 since winning the 2020 U.S. Open, so he'll be keen to get back on the board quickly.
Bryson's most recent wins came on the LIV Tour in August and September last year.
Cameron Smith
Like Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith has a perfect Masters record, making seven of seven cuts, the only difference is, that he is yet to don the Green Jacket.
A win this year would ally any fears that he'll miss out on future renewals of this event, and it is difficult to rule him out, given he has finished inside the top 10 on 4 occasions, three of which were top five finishes.
Both Dustin Johnson and Scottie Scheffler pulled away in his two best efforts here, but Smith knows how to get in the mix at Augusta.
His performance may depend on how he recovers from food poisoning this past weekend.
Dustin Johnson
Now a two-time major winner after his win here in 2020, it was one of the first times we have ever truly seen DJ emotional and vulnerable, showing exactly what this tournament means to these players.
It feels like Johnson was content with his career after winning The Masters, which made the move to LIV that much easier.
Having said that, he is still one of the most talented golfers of recent years, and he did finish T10 in last year's U.S. Open, so there does seem to still be some fire left.
He's already won on LIV this season, and he'll now be targeting a first top 10 at Augusta since his win. Difficult to rule out, but not many reasons yet to believe he's going to win a second Green Jacket this week.
Tyrrell Hatton
One of the newest LIV Golfer's on this list, Tyrrell Hatton jumped ship to join Jon Rahm's team, which may seem a risk to some in his position, given he is still yet to win a major.
All of the players on this list so far have major eligibility for one reason or another, but Hatton is going to need to continue playing well in the biggest events to stand a chance of playing in more.
Based on his Augusta record, this might be the last time we see Hatton at The Masters for a while, which he might be grateful for, given his relationship with the course.
The Englishman's best finish here as a T18, and that's his only top-30 finish in seven starts here.
Not on the radar this week.
Patrick Reed
A brilliant winner of this tournament in 2018, Patrick Reed knows he can come back here every year and enjoy the Champions' Dinner. Whether others enjoy his company or not remains to be seen, but that won't bother Reed one bit, who will be a fierce competitor until the very end.
Reed initially struggled at Augusta, and his win was a bit of a surprise given his prior course form, but since donning the Green Jacket, the American has been a specialist here.
He has finished T10, T8, and T4 since his win here, either side of two more made cuts, and he should be a player you look at with the extended each-way place terms on offer this week.
Sergio Garcia
The Spaniard finally broke through with a major win here in 2017, and while he's performed poorly in the biggest events of the year since, he will always be on people's minds.
Perhaps a bit like Dustin Johson, it feels like Garcia was content with finally achieving his career goal, and he's really struggled on the biggest stages since.
Garcia has made 23 major starts since winning the 2017 Masters and he's missed the cut in 14 of them, with no top-10s in that span.
He's missed four cuts from five at Augusts since winning in 2017, with a lone T23 finish the highlight.
In good form again, but hard to trust in these big events now.
Adrian Meronk
A brilliant DP World Tour player, who kicked off 2024 with a T2 finish at the Dubai Desert Classic, Adrian Meronk would have been on the radar for a few this week.
The Pole has failed to make a real impact on LIV since joining though, playing steadily (two top 10s) without really contending.
He missed the cut on debut here last year, which is no great surprise as many struggle on their first start here, but there's been nothing in his major starts so far to hint that a career week is incoming.
Correctly priced for his talent, but chances are he will fail to make an impact.
Phil Mickelson
Mickelson shocked the world when he rallied here on Sunday last year to finish T2, but as a three-time winner of this event, it is always possible something like that can happen, especially at Augusta.
He failed to make an impact in any of the remaining majors in 2023, and he's been terrible on the LIV Tour, so there is very little reason to trust him, other than loving his course form.
Lefty will have his backers at 200-1 based on last year's effort, but he is certainly better suited to a top-20 bet than anything else.
Hard to trust.
Bubba Watson
A brilliant two-time winner of this event in 2012 and 2014, Bubba Watson has all the tools to succeed at Augusta... He just hasn't shown them in recent years.
Watson finished T5 here in 2018, but since then his Masters record reads T12-57-T26-T39-MC. He might make the cut, but beyond that, it is hard to know what Watson will bring to the table this week.
In fairness, he's one of the players to really embrace his captaincy role on the LIV Tour and is probably one of their strongest assets in that respect, but that might be the role he plays in golf now. No top-10's and only one major top-20 (here) since that T5 here in 2018, Watson's best days are behind him.
He did threaten to get punters on board last week with a good start on LIV, but he quickly fell away over the weekend.
Charl Schwartzel
Hard to know what the South African offers these days, it is no surprise he languishes at the bottom of the odds board.
3rd in 2017 and 10th in 2022 suggests Schwartzel is still capable of plotting his way around Augusta, but his 2011 win, which came as a result of a Rory McIlroy collapse seems a long time ago now.
Some may take encouragement from a 2nd at the Alfred Dunhill Championship at the end of 2023 and his T2 finish at LIV Jeddah. Most won't.
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