The big names at risk of not qualifying for The Masters

Time is running out to qualify for The Masters.

The first men’s major of the year gets underway on 9 April at Augusta National.

At the time of publication, the 2026 Masters field stands at 88 players.

There is only one last route into the tradition unlike any other, with the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking as of 30 March invited to The Masters.

As things stand, America’s Pierceson Coody – the grandson of 1971 Masters champion Charles – is the bubble boy, though a lot can change over the next two weeks.

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GolfMagic has decided to take a look at the big names not yet qualified for the 2026 Masters.

Joaquin Niemann

The Chilean, who plies his trade primarily in the LIV Golf League, received invitations to compete into The Masters in 2024 and 2025, but he has not yet managed to qualify for the 2026 Masters.

Niemann is currently ranked 155th in the OWGR.

Rickie Fowler

The popular American has made 11 appearances at The Masters. His best finish, of course, was a runner-up to Patrick Reed at the 2018 Masters.

Fowler also has recorded three other top 10 finishes at Augusta. Fowler missed out last April and is in danger of doing so again.

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He is currently 61st in the OWGR but has committed to the Texas Houston Children’s Open and Valero Texas Open. Two good performances should see him through.

Tony FInau

The big American has dropped to 104th in the OWGR after a difficult 18 months on the PGA Tour.

Finau has not registered a top 10 finish since the 2025 Genesis Invitational.

Finau has played in the last eight Masters Tournaments so it will be strange to see him miss out.

His best performance at Augusta came in 2019 when he played in the final group alongside Francesco Molinari and Tiger Woods.

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Billy Horschel

Horschel missed three out of the four majors last season after undergoing surgery on his hip.

He is back to full fitness now but is 87th in the OWGR.

Horschel has made 10 appearances at The Masters and only missing three cuts.

His best result at Augusta was a share of 17th in 2016.

Will Zalatoris

Like Horschel, Zalatoris has been sidelined with a serious injury.

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Last May, Zalatoris had back surgery and didn’t play for seven months.

He sounded optimistic about his prospects at the start of the season, but has only made two starts.

Zalatoris was also forced to withdraw from the Cognizant Classic with a left ankle injury.

Zalatoris is currently 291st in the OWGR.

Tom Kim

Has played in the last three Masters Tournaments but has suffered a dip in form.

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At 127th in the OWGR, Kim needs a miracle to tee it up at Augusta.

Sahith Theegala

Like Zalatoris and Horschel, Theegala has had injury problems of his own.

Theegala previously explained like he felt as though 2025 was “a lost season” after suffering an oblique injury that morphed into a neck injury.

Three top 10 finishes on the PGA Tour this season have lifted Theegala to 80th in the OWGR.

David Puig

The Spanish LIV Golf pro is currently 75th in the Official World Golf Ranking.

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He has entered the Hero Indian Open on the DP World Tour in an attempt to break the top 50.

OWGR (As of 23 March)

Rank

Name

Total Points

Ryan Fox

106.59376

Brian Harman

102.29637

Nicolai Hojgaard

106.20146

Kristoffer Reitan

105.94198

Andrew Novak

104.95937

Samuel Stevens

104.17276

Top 50 qualify for The Masters

Pierceson Coody

103.88709

Adam Scott

95.80726

Rasmus Hojgaard

96.31317

Michael Kim

100.03329

Sami Valimaki

99.41877

Michael Thorbjornsen

81.93826

Thomas Detry

98.33572

Max Greyserman

97.65574

Jayden Schaper

96.69763

Jordan Spieth

78.1052

Rickie Fowler

77.68693

Harry Hall

95.72813

Ryo Hisatsune

95.26507

Nick Taylor

88.4965

Jordan Smith

90.19824

Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen

89.4588

Sungjae Im

86.98223

Patrick Rodgers

85.25978

Casey Jarvis

84.91301

Taylor Pendrith

79.95633

J.T. Poston

75.88934

Wyndham Clark

76.96729

Max McGreevy

82.43974

John Keefer

71.07429

David Puig

61.76882

Richard Hoey

79.84785

Aldrich Potgieter

78.30367

Haotong Li

79.69501

Elvis Smylie

63.89614

Sahith Theegala

74.50411

Bud Cauley

65.04756

Daniel Brown(Oct1994)

72.17299

Garrick Higgo

68.92673

Lucas Glover

67.38249

Matti Schmid

75.99382

John Parry

75.62876

Billy Horschel

62.23121

David Lipsky

75.24991

Daniel Hillier

74.62639

Austin Smotherman

74.58496

Ricky Castillo

74.00634

Christiaan Bezuidenhout

73.8309

Adrien Saddier

71.71157

Chris Kirk

61.97704

Matt Wallace

70.64557

Denny McCarthy

63.74302

Tom McKibbin

54.86478

Thriston Lawrence

69.49079

Laurie Canter

59.81858

100

Stephan Jaeger

68.49641

Which LIV Golf players have qualified for The Masters?

There will be 11 LIV Golf players in the field at the 2026 Masters.

Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Charl Schwartzel and Jon Rahm are former Masters champions exempt into the major for life.

They will be joined by Bryson DeChambeau, Tyrrell Hatton, Carlos Ortiz and Tom McKibbin.

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LIV secured OWGR points in February and several players have already made big moves.

But it looks as though some big names will miss out.

Anthony Kim ended 2025 875th in the OWGR and jumped more than 600 places with victory at LIV Golf Adelaide.

But at 208th, it looks as though Kim will miss out.

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The big names at risk of not qualifying for The Masters

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