Masters will allow LIV golfers who qualify to compete in 2023

WASHINGTON: LIV Golf League players will be able to compete in next year’s Masters after Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said Tuesday the event will keep “current criteria” for 2023 entrants.

Without mentioning the Saudi-backed upstart series by name, Ridley expressed disappointment with golf’s ongoing divide caused by LIV luring away top PGA Tour talent with record prize money for 54-hole events.

“Regrettably, recent actions have divided men’s professional golf by diminishing the virtues of the game and the meaningful legacies of those who built it,” Ridley said.

“Although we are disappointed in these developments, our focus is to honor the tradition of bringing together a preeminent field of golfers this coming April.

“Therefore, as invitations are sent this week, we will invite those eligible under our current criteria to compete in the 2023 Masters tournament.”

Of 78 players currently qualified for the 2023 Masters, 16 are LIV Golf members.

Six former Masters champions playing on the LIV circuit are set for next year’s first major golf showdown at the historic venue.

They include Phil Mickelson, a three-time Masters winner and six-time major champion who was the first top player to push LIV Golf forward.

Other past Masters winners in LIV Golf eligible to return in 2023 include fellow Americans Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Bubba Watson plus Spaniard Sergio Garcia and South African Charl Schwartzel.

World No. 3 Cameron Smith of Australia, the reigning British Open champion, is also among other LIV players who have qualified under the current criteria.

Americans Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka qualify based on major triumphs within the past five years and Chile’s Joaquin Niemann has also locked