AUGUSTA, Ga. — LIV Golf players are at the 2023 Masters, and they will be allowed at the 2024 Masters, too.
In his annual press conference a day ahead of this year’s tournament, Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley defended the decision to include golfers from the Saudi-backed series, though said he didn’t “necessarily agree with” players who had made the move to LIV. Then, minutes after the session with reporters on Wednesday, the club released a statement that would allow LIV golfers to play in next year’s Masters.
There had been uncertainty on what Augusta National would do with LIV Golf, which has lured numerous pros over the past year with large, guaranteed money, is in the middle of conflicting lawsuits with the PGA Tour and has started its second season. In late December, Ridley had released a statement that did not change the Masters qualification process — allowing 18 LIV golfers to play in the Masters that starts Thursday — but included wording that scolded LIV and noted that “any modifications or changes to invitation criteria for future Tournaments will be announced in April.”
On Wednesday, Ridley said the December statement was meant to “disabuse the notion that we might not be making any changes in the future.”
“It wasn’t to specifically have you anticipate that we were going to make some major announcement,” he said, “although that could be the case.
“We do look at our qualifications every year, but there are changes. Things are evolving, and we need to make sure that we are flexible in that regard. So I’m sure there will be changes in the future, but none beyond what I announced this morning.”
The changes were minimal. Next year, winners from Tour events that award full-point allocations will gain entry; previously a Masters qualification had been worded: “Individual winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation for the season-ending Tour Championship.” The NCAA champion will also now qualify; this year’s winner, Gordon Sargent, received a special invite.
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LIV’s path to the Masters remains, though. Defending champions are granted lifetime exemptions and LIV currently has six — Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed and Charl Schwartzel. PGA Championship, U.S. Open and Open Championship winners from the past five years will be allowed; Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Cam Smith currently fit here. There’s also entry through the Official World Golf Ranking, though LIV events have yet to receive these, and its players have tumbled in the OWGR.
The most heated moment of the press conference came when Ridley was asked whether Augusta National was helping Saudi Arabia to sportswash. For clarity, here is the complete exchange:
“Back in December,” the reporter began, “you used the words: ‘Regrettably, diminishing the virtues of the game and the meaningful legacies of those who built it,’ and you said you were disappointed, presumably because of the golfers who left their jobs and went into business with the Saudis responsible for 9/11, the murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, terrible, abysmal human rights violations. So now they are here, obviously. You have 18 here. The picture last night was six of them [at the Champions Dinner]. Are you at all concerned that you are actually helping the Saudis sportswash because of their joy in seeing a picture like that last night? Are you helping them actually sportswash their reputation?”
Said Ridley: “Well, let me go back — let me go back to our statement — that was a long question, but I’ll try to start from the beginning.
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“Our statement in December, and particularly the comment that these actions had diminished the virtues of the game, I want to make a couple points. The first is I know many of these players who are no longer on the PGA Tour. Some of them I would consider friends. So anything I might say is not a comment, a personal comment, against their character or anything else.
“What I was trying to point out, and I alluded to it in my comments, the platform that these players have built their careers on were based on the blood, sweat and tears of their predecessors, people like Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Tiger Woods.
“I had the privilege of being a member, a partner in a law firm that’s 180 years old, and we exist today because of many generations of lawyers who thought it was important to leave our organization better than they found it. So this is just my personal opinion. Doesn’t mean that everyone has to think this way.
“So my comment in December was really more that I was expressing some disappointment that these players were taking the platform that had been given to them — that they rightly had earned success on, by the way — and moving to another opportunity, perhaps not thinking about who might come behind them.
“As relates to your comment about sportswashing, I certainly have a general understanding of the term. I think, you know, it’s for others to decide exactly what that means. These were personal decisions of these players, which I, you know, at a high level, don’t necessarily agree with, but it really wasn’t intended to go beyond that.”
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Also Wednesday, Ridley was asked why Greg Norman, the LIV Golf CEO, was not invited to this year’s Masters, when leaders of professional tours were — and Ridley twice said the reason was to keep the focus on the tournament.
A follow-up was asked on whether he would ever be invited in the future.
”I mean, it’s hard to answer that question because, you know, I don’t know where the world is going to be next year or two years from now,” Ridley said. “But as I stated, I would say — I would never say never. But I told you why he had not been invited this year.
“I think that, as I said in my comments, I’m hopeful; I noticed — I’ve noticed a tone — the tone has been really good here this week. I’ve noticed the players are interacting. Last night at the Champions Dinner, I would not have known that anything was going on in the world of professional golf other than the norm. So I think, and I’m hopeful, that this week might get people thinking in a little bit different direction and things will change.
“So I would never say never, no.”
