There are more than two dozen ways to qualify for the Masters Tournament, and while the Augusta National Golf Club has extended special invitations to some golfers in the past, and there have been modifications made to the qualification criteria over the years, many of the ways that players earn a “golden ticket” have not changed.
Players can qualify via multiple criteria. For example, Rory McIlroy is now exempt into the Masters for life as a past champion. He would also be exempt into the 2026 Masters through other qualifications, like being one of the three most recent Players Championship winners, but his 2025 green jacket victory earned him a lifetime of drives down Magnolia Lane.
Here’s a closer look at the Masters qualifications, which were updated in August to include the winners of six national opens around the world. Many players appear under several of these qualifications.
Masters Tournament champions (lifetime)
Angel Cabrera, Fred Couples, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Zach Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama, Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Jose Maria Olazabal, Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed, Scottie Scheffler, Charl Schwartzel, Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, Mike Weir, Danny Willett, Tiger Woods. (Several living Masters champions have chosen to no longer compete in the tournament.)
U.S. Open champions (honorary, non-competing after five years)
J.J. Spaun (2025), Bryson DeChambeau (2024), Wyndham Clark (2023), Matt Fitzpatrick (2022) and Jon Rahm (2021).
The Open Championship winners (honorary, non-competing after five years)
Scottie Scheffler (2025), Xander Schauffele (2024), Brian Harman (2023), Collin Morikawa (2022) and Cameron Smith (2021).
PGA champions (honorary, non-competing after five years)
Scottie Scheffler (2025), Xander Schauffele (2024), Brooks Koepka (2023), Justin Thomas (2022) and Phil Mickelson (2021).
Winners of The Players Championship (three years)
Rory McIlroy (2025), Scottie Scheffler (2024) and Scottie Scheffler (2023).
Current Olympic Gold Medalist (one year)
Scottie Scheffler (2024).
Current U.S. Amateur Champion (7-A) (honorary, non-competing after one year) and the runner-up (7-B)
The 2025 U.S. Amateur champion is Mason Howell, who bested Jackson Herrington at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.
Current The Amateur Champion (Honorary, non-competing after one year)
The Amateur Championship (also known as the British Amateur) was won by Ethan Fang.
Current Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion (One year)
The 2025 Asia Pacific Amateur will be played at the Emirates Golf Club’s Majlis Course in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Oct. 23-26.
Current Latin America Amateur Champion (one year)
The 2026 Latin America Amateur Championship will be played at the Lima Golf Club in Lima, Peru, in 2026.
Current U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion (one year)
Brandon Holtz won the 2025 U.S. Mid-Amateur.
Current NCAA Division I men’s individual champion (one year)
The 2025 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship medalist was by Michael La Sasso of Ole Miss.
The first 12 players, including ties, in the previous year’s Masters Tournament
From the 2025 tournament, they are Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Patrick Reed, Scottie Scheffler, Sungjae Im, Bryson DeChambeau, Ludvig Aberg, Xander Schauffele, Zach Johnson, Jason Day, Corey Conners, Harris English and Max Homa.
The first 4 players, including ties, in the previous year’s U.S. Open
J.J. Spaun, Robert MacIntyre, Viktor Hovland, Cameron Young, Tyrrell Hatton and Carlos Ortiz.
The first 4 players, including ties, in the previous year’s The Open Championship
Scottie Scheffler, Harris English, Chris Gotterup, Haotong Li and Matt Fitzpatrick.
The first 4 players, including ties, in the previous year’s PGA Championship
Scottie Scheffler, Harris English, Bryson DeChambeau and Davis Riley.
Individual winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation applied to the season-ending Tour Championship.
This is an adjusted criteria for 2026 and beyond which means that winners of the PGA Tour’s seven FedEx Cup Fall series tournaments no longer earn the Masters invite, if not already qualified.
Those qualifying and eligible for the previous year’s season-ending Tour Championship
Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, J.J. Spaun, Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, Ben Griffin, Russell Henl, Sepp Straka, Robert MacIntyre, Maverick McNealy, Harris English, Justin Thomas, Cameron Young, Ludvig Aberg, Andrew Novak, Keegan Bradley, Sam Burns, Brian Harman, Corey Conners, Patrick Cantlay, Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland, Hideki Matsuyama, Shane Lowry, Nick Taylor, Harry Hall, Jacob Bridgeman, Sungjae Im, Chris Gotterup and Akshay Bhatia.
The 50 leaders on the final Official World Golf Ranking for the previous calendar year
The 50 leaders on the final Official World Golf Ranking published during the week prior to the current Masters Tournament
Winner of Scottish Open
The 2026 Genesis Scottis Open will be held July 8-12 The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland.
Winner of Spanish Open
Marco Penge won the 2025 Spanish Open in October.
Winner of Japan Open
Japan Open Golf Championship is being held at Nikko Country Club, Oct. 16-19, 2025.
Winner of Hong Kong Open
The Hong Kong Open is at Hong Kong Golf Club, Oct. 30-Nov. 2, 2025.
Winner of Australian Open
Royal Melbourne hosts the 2025 Australian Open, Dec. 4-7.
Winner of South African Open
The 2026 South African Open will be in March.
In August, Augusta National Golf Club and the R&A announced jointly to award invitations to winners of those national opens. The Scottish Open winner was exempt due to its status as a PGA Tour-DP World Tour co-sanctioned event.
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