Exclusive: Augusta announces surprise Masters invites to LIV golfer, two others
As the 2024 Masters draws nearer, details about this year’s tournament are slowly emerging. However, Wednesday brought forth the most significant announcement thus far: Joaquin Niemann of LIV Golf has received an invitation from Augusta National.
At 8:28 a.m. ET on Wednesday morning, via an official Masters X account post, Niemann received a surprising announcement from the organization that he would be invited to compete in this year’s competition. In addition to Niemann, two pros who did not meet the requirements were granted entry into The Masters – Thorbjørn Olesen and Ryo Hisatsune.
Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley stated that the Masters’ special invitations follow a longstanding custom of inviting prominent international players who do not meet other qualifications.
According to the statement from Ridley, “The Masters Tournament is dedicated to promoting golf worldwide as evidenced by today’s announcement. We eagerly anticipate hosting all participants at Augusta National in the upcoming spring.”
Olsesen from Denmark presently holds the No. 58 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking, which is not sufficient to secure a Masters position alone since it requires a top-50 ranking. However, he can still make it into the desired list by maintaining his impressive performance as there’s ample time left before qualification closes.
Hisatsune from Japan is positioned at the 78th spot and has secured a distinctive invitation for being bestowed with DP World Tour Rookie of the Year award in 2023.
That brings us to Niemann, the professional golfer from Chile who joined LIV in 2022 after leaving the PGA Tour. Despite being a member of the tour in both 2021 and 2022 and playing at The Masters during those years, he qualified for the tournament again through his world ranking in 2023 where he placed T16.
As LIV events do not grant world ranking points, Niemann’s rank has dropped to No. 81 which is far beyond the required top-50 for participation in Augusta.
Apart from his exceptional performance on LIV, Niemann has shown a great desire for participating in and triumphing major events. For this reason, he has made every effort to obtain ranking points worldwide. One of the ways was taking part in the Australian swing towards the end of last year where he emerged as victorious at the Australian Open tournament.
In January, he participated in the Dubai Desert Classic of DP World Tour and secured a T4 finish.
Niemann was scheduled to participate in the Asian Tour International Series event in Oman this week for a chance at gaining additional world ranking points. However, with Augusta’s recent announcement, his qualification for the Masters is secured and obtaining more points may only be necessary if he aims to qualify for other majors later on in the season.
