Qualifiers for all 2026 Signature Events, THE PLAYERS and majors
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Ryan Gerard finishes round with his second eagle of the day No. 9 at Bank of Utah
Written by Rob Bolton
'Twas the week before Christmas, when all throughout golf, the creatures were stirring.
In the sport’s version of “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” there’s no such thing as quiet in the final week of competition in a calendar year, for on top of victories in five tournaments across six tours for which Official World Golf Ranking points were distributed, coveted invitations to the Masters are promised via the sport’s version of Santa Claus.
Every year, the top 50 in the end-of-year OWGR qualify for the first major of the following year. Most have known for at least a little while that their position inside the bubble is safe, but there’s almost always one gift remaining under the tree that no one expected. This year, it belongs to Ryan Gerard.
Gerard capitalized on his standing as a winner of a DP World Tour event, the 2025 Barracuda Championship, to enter the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, which is co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and the Sunshine Tour. Needing no worse than a two-way share of fourth place (or a three-way T3 if Daniel Brown prevailed), he’d climb from 57th in the OWGR and into the year-ending top 50.
In what was a thrilling conclusion during which Gerard birdied the 72nd hole to force a playoff with Jayden Schaper of South Africa, Gerard eventually “settled” for the Masters berth when Schaper pitched in for eagle during the duo’s second time through the par-5 18th hole in sudden death. It’s Schaper’s second title in as many weeks, and it follows a T2 at the Nedbank Golf Challenge the week before that. (Brown finished T21.)
For the record, Gerard ascended to 46th in the OWGR, but the formula extending to Dec. 31 will yield a rise of another two spots.
From Alex Noren and 11th in the OWGR through Sam Stevens at 50th, 13 have secured tee times at Augusta National Golf Club in April. Gerard is one of six Masters qualifiers of this cohort who will be making his debut at Augusta National. At 31st, Nedbank Golf Challenge champion and 2026 PGA TOUR rookie Kristoffer Reitan is highest among them.
The OWGR also can be a grinch, at least that’s what Taylor Pendrith might be thinking.
Pendrith, who is not yet exempt into the Masters, held at 49th in the latest update, but he will tumble to 51st in the final formula of 2025, 0.0141 points behind Sam Stevens who won’t budge from his current slot at 50th.
Filling the spot vacated by Pendrith is 2026 PGA TOUR rookie Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen at 49th. The Dane already has qualified for the Masters, so the timing of his move does not benefit him in the short term.
Pendrith and everyone else who isn’t yet eligible for the Masters have other opportunities to qualify, however. Refer to Remaining Qualifying Criteria beneath the alphabetical list of all qualifiers to the entire array for the Masters and all other tournaments that this page monitors.
SE = All Signature Events
TPC = THE PLAYERS Championship
MAS = Masters
PGA = PGA Championship
US = U.S. Open
OPEN = The Open Championship
Recent additions
SE -- none
TPC -- none
MAS -- Michael Brennan; Ryan Gerard; Max Greyserman; Rasmus Højgaard; Johnny Keefer; Michael Kim; Si Woo Kim; Min Woo Lee; Alex Noren; Aaron Rai; Kristoffer Reitan; Sam Stevens; Sami Valimaki
PGA -- none
US -- none
OPEN -- none
NOTE: Golfers are omitted if they haven’t competed recently in majors for which they are eligible (e.g., The Open Championship = David Duval, Paul Lawrie).
| Golfer | Qualified |
| Byeong Hun An | TPC |
| Angel Ayora | OPEN |
| Ludvig Åberg | SE, TPC, MAS, *PGA, US, OPEN |
| Rich Beem | PGA |
| Daniel Berger | SE, TPC |
| Christiaan Bezuidenhout | TPC |
| Akshay Bhatia | SE, TPC, MAS, US, OPEN |
| Keegan Bradley | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA, US, OPEN |
| Michael Brennan | TPC, MAS, PGA |
| Jacob Bridgeman | SE, TPC, MAS, US, OPEN |
| Daniel Brown | OPEN |
| Sam Burns | SE, TPC, MAS, *PGA, US, OPEN |
| Ángel Cabrera | MAS, PGA |
| Brian Campbell | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA |
| Laurie Canter | OPEN |
| Patrick Cantlay | SE, TPC, MAS, *PGA, US, OPEN |
| Bud Cauley | SE, TPC |
| Stewart Cink | OPEN |
| Wyndham Clark | TPC, MAS, PGA, US, OPEN |
| Darren Clarke | OPEN |
| Eric Cole | TPC |
| Hamilton Coleman | US (must remain an amateur to compete) |
| Corey Conners | SE, TPC, MAS, US, OPEN |
| Fred Couples | MAS |
| Martin Couvra | OPEN |
| John Daly | PGA, OPEN |
| Cam Davis | TPC |
| Jason Day | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA |
| Bryson DeChambeau | MAS, PGA, US, OPEN |
| Thomas Detry | SE, TPC |
| Jason Dufner | PGA |
| Nico Echavarria | TPC |
| Ernie Els | OPEN |
| Harris English | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA, US, OPEN |
| Ethan Fang | MAS, US (must remain an amateur to compete in both) |
| Tony Finau | TPC |
| Steven Fisk | TPC, PGA |
| Matt Fitzpatrick | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA, US, OPEN |
| Tommy Fleetwood | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA, US, OPEN |
| Rickie Fowler | SE, TPC |
| Ryan Fox | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA, OPEN |
| Sergio Garcia | MAS |
| Ryan Gerard | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA |
| Lucas Glover | SE, TPC |
| Chris Gotterup | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA, US, OPEN |
| Max Greyserman | TPC, MAS |
| Ben Griffin | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA, US, OPEN |
| Emiliano Grillo | TPC |
| Harry Hall | SE, TPC, MAS, US, OPEN |
| Brian Harman | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA, US, OPEN |
| Padraig Harrington | PGA, US, OPEN |
| Tyrrell Hatton | MAS, *PGA, US, OPEN |
| Russell Henley | SE, TPC, MAS, *PGA, US, OPEN |
| Jackson Herrington | MAS, US (must remain an amateur to compete in both) |
| Garrick Higgo | TPC |
| Joe Highsmith | TPC, PGA |
| Daniel Hillier | OPEN |
| Ryo Hisatsune | TPC |
| Rico Hoey | TPC |
| Tom Hoge | SE, TPC |
| Nicolai Højgaard | TPC, OPEN |
| Rasmus Højgaard | TPC, MAS, *PGA, OPEN |
| Michael Hollick | OPEN |
| Brandon Holtz | MAS, US (must remain an amateur to compete in both) |
| Max Homa | MAS |
| Billy Horschel | OPEN |
| Viktor Hovland | SE, TPC, MAS, *PGA, US, OPEN |
| Mason Howell | MAS, US, OPEN (must remain an amateur to compete in the Masters and The Open Championship) |
| Mark Hubbard | TPC |
| Mackenzie Hughes | TPC |
| Sungjae Im | SE, TPC, MAS, US, OPEN |
| Stephan Jaeger | TPC |
| Miguel Angel Jiménez | TPC |
| Dustin Johnson | MAS, US |
| Zach Johnson | MAS, OPEN |
| Takumi Kanaya | TPC |
| Naoyuki Kataoka | MAS, OPEN |
| Martin Kaymer | PGA |
| Johnny Keefer | TPC, MAS, US |
| Michael Kim | SE, TPC, MAS |
| Si Woo Kim | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA, OPEN |
| Chris Kirk | TPC |
| Kurt Kitayama | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA |
| Jake Knapp | TPC |
| Brooks Koepka | MAS, PGA, US, OPEN |
| Jackson Koivun | US, OPEN (must remain an amateur to compete in both) |
| Michael La Sasso | MAS (must remain an amateur to compete) |
| Joakim Lagergren | OPEN |
| Fifa Laopakdee | MAS, OPEN (must remain an amateur to compete in both) |
| Min Woo Lee | TPC, MAS |
| Justin Leonard | OPEN |
| Haotong Li | MAS, OPEN |
| Shane Lowry | SE, TPC, MAS, *PGA, US, OPEN |
| Robert MacIntyre | SE, TPC, MAS, *PGA, US, OPEN |
| Hideki Matsuyama | SE, TPC, MAS, US, OPEN |
| Denny McCarthy | SE, TPC, PGA |
| Matt McCarty | TPC |
| Max McGreevy | TPC |
| Rory McIlroy | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA, US, OPEN |
| Tom McKibbin | MAS, OPEN |
| Maverick McNealy | SE, TPC, MAS, US, OPEN |
| Mac Meissner | TPC |
| Shaun Micheel | PGA |
| Phil Mickelson | MAS, PGA, OPEN |
| Keith Mitchell | TPC |
| Francesco Molinari | OPEN |
| Collin Morikawa | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA, US, OPEN |
| William Mouw | TPC, PGA |
| Keita Nakajima | OPEN |
| Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen | MAS, OPEN |
| Joaquin Niemann | PGA |
| Alex Noren | MAS, US, OPEN |
| Andrew Novak | SE, TPC, MAS, US, OPEN |
| José Maria Olazábal | MAS |
| Thorbjørn Olesen | TPC |
| Louis Oosthuizen | OPEN |
| Carlos Ortiz | MAS, US |
| John Parry | OPEN |
| Taylor Pendrith | SE, TPC, PGA |
| Marco Penge | TPC, MAS, OPEN |
| Chandler Phillips | TPC |
| J.T. Poston | SE, TPC, PGA |
| Aldrich Potgieter | TPC, MAS, PGA |
| Jon Rahm | MAS, PGA, US, OPEN |
| Aaron Rai | TPC, MAS, OPEN |
| Chad Ramey | TPC |
| Patrick Reed | MAS |
| Kristoffer Reitan | MAS, OPEN |
| Davis Riley | TPC, MAS, PGA |
| Patrick Rodgers | TPC |
| Justin Rose | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA, US, OPEN |
| Kevin Roy | TPC |
| Adrien Saddier | OPEN |
| Xander Schauffele | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA, US, OPEN |
| Scottie Scheffler | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA, US, OPEN |
| Adam Schenk | TPC, PGA |
| Matti Schmid | TPC |
| Charl Schwartzel | MAS |
| Adam Scott | MAS, OPEN |
| Vijay Singh | MAS |
| Alex Smalley | TPC |
| Cameron Smith | MAS, PGA, US, OPEN |
| Jordan Smith | OPEN |
| Elvis Smylie | OPEN |
| J.J. Spaun | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA, US, OPEN |
| Jordan Spieth | TPC, MAS, OPEN |
| Henrik Stenson | OPEN |
| Sam Stevens | SE, TPC, MAS |
| Sepp Straka | SE, TPC, MAS, *PGA, US, OPEN |
| Nick Taylor | SE, TPC, MAS, US, OPEN |
| Justin Thomas | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA, US, OPEN |
| Davis Thompson | TPC |
| Michael Thorbjornsen | TPC |
| Sami Valimaki | TPC, MAS, PGA |
| Erik van Rooyen | TPC |
| Jhonattan Vegas | SE, TPC, PGA |
| Karl Vilips | TPC |
| Danny Walker | TPC |
| Jimmy Walker | PGA |
| Bubba Watson | MAS |
| Mike Weir | MAS |
| Vince Whaley | TPC |
| Danny Willett | MAS |
| Gary Woodland | TPC, US |
| Tiger Woods | MAS, PGA, OPEN |
| Y.E. Yang | PGA |
| Cameron Young | SE, TPC, MAS, PGA, US, OPEN |
| Kevin Yu | TPC |
REMAINING QUALIFYING CRITERIA
Criteria are listed in chronological order where possible. Best estimates are given but all are subject to change.
Signature Events
- AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (Feb. 12-15)
- The Genesis Invitational (Feb. 19-22)
- Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard (March 5-8)
- RBC Heritage (April 16-19)
- Miami Championship (April 30-May 3)
- Truist Championship (May 7-10)
- Memorial Tournament presented by Workday (June 4-7)
- Travelers Championship (June 25-28)
THE PLAYERS Championship (TPC) at TPC Sawgrass (Stadium) – March 12-15
- Winners of PGA TOUR events through the final week before THE PLAYERS.
- Top 10 in the FedExCup at the conclusion of the Cognizant Classic (March 1).
- Top 50 of Official World Golf Ranking (March 2).
- If necessary to complete the field of 120, golfers outside the Top 10 in the FedExCup at the conclusion of the Cognizant on March 1 will gain entry in order of position.
Masters (MAS) at Augusta National Golf Club – April 9-12
- Winners of PGA TOUR events that award full FedExCup points allocation for the TOUR Championship.
- Winner of the Latin America Amateur Championship, if still an amateur (Jan. 18).
- Winner of the South African Open (March 1).
- Top 50 of Official World Golf Ranking (March 30).
- Special invitations to international players per Masters Tournament Committee as its discretion.
PGA Championship (PGA) at Aronimink Golf Club – May 14-17
- Winners of PGA TOUR events through the final week before the 2026 PGA Championship.
- Top 3 from International Federation Ranking List (TBD).
- Top 3 from Asian Swing ranking on the DP World Tour (TBD).
- Top 20 from PGA Professional Championship (April 29).
- Top 70 from special money list (i.e., "PGA Championship Points") on PGA TOUR from 2025 Charles Schwab Challenge through the Miami Championship (May 3).
- *All 2025 Ryder Cup members inside Top 100 of Official World Golf Ranking (May 4).
- Special exemptions per PGA of America. (This likely will include all golfers from Top 100 of Official World Golf Ranking on May 4.)
- If necessary to complete the field of 156, golfers outside Top 70 from special money list (three lines above) will gain entry in order of position.
U.S. Open (US) at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club – June 18-21
- Winners of multiple PGA TOUR events that award full FedExCup points allocation since the 2025 U.S. Open.
- Winner of the Latin America Amateur Championship, if still an amateur (Jan. 18).
- Winner of THE PLAYERS Championship (March 15).
- Winner of the Masters (April 12).
- Winner of the PGA Championship (May 17).
- Top 5, not otherwise exempt, in the FedExCup at the conclusion of a PGA TOUR event TBD in 2026 (TBD).
- Top 2, not otherwise exempt, in the 2025 Race to Dubai at the conclusion of an event TBD in 2026 (TBD).
- Top player, not otherwise exempt, in the 2026 Race to Dubai (TBD).
- Leader, not otherwise exempt, in the Top 3 of the LIV Golf Individual Standings (May 18).
- Top 60 of Official World Golf Ranking (1 of 2) (TBD).
- Final qualifying (TBD).
- Winner of the NCAA Division 1 individual championship, if still an amateur (June 1).
- Top 60 of Official World Golf Ranking (2 of 2) (TBD).
- Special exemptions per the USGA.
The Open Championship (OPEN) at Royal Birkdale Golf Club -- July 16-19
- Winner of the Latin America Amateur Championship, if still an amateur (Jan. 18).
- Winner of the African Amateur Championship, if still an amateur (Feb. 7).
- Top player, not otherwise exempt, who makes the cut at the New Zealand Open (March 1).
- Top 3, not otherwise exempt, who make the cut at the South African Open Championship (March 1).
- Top player, not otherwise exempt, who makes the cut at the Argentina Open (March 1).
- Top player, not otherwise exempt, who makes the cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard (March 8).
- Winner of THE PLAYERS Championship (March 15).
- Top 2, not otherwise exempt, who make the cut at an Asian Tour event (TBD).
- Winner of the Masters (April 12).
- Winner of the PGA Championship (May 17).
- Top player, not otherwise exempt, who makes the cut at the KOLON Korea Open (TBD).
- Top 50 of Official World Golf Ranking (May 25).
- Top 5 in the Federation Ranking (May 25).
- Top 3, not otherwise exempt, who make the cut at the Mizuno Open (May 31).
- Top player, not otherwise exempt, who makes the cut at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday (June 7).
- Top 3, not otherwise exempt, who make the cut at the RBC Canadian Open (June 14).
- Winner of the British Amateur, if still an amateur (June 20).
- Winner of the U.S. Open (June 21).
- Top player, not otherwise exempt, who make the cut at the Italian Open (June 28).
- Top 5, not otherwise exempt, inside the top 20 in the FedExCup at the conclusion of the Travelers Championship (June 28).
- Leader, not otherwise exempt, in the LIV Golf Individual Standings at the conclusion of LIV Golf Louisiana (June 28).
- Winner of the European Amateur Championship, if still an amateur (June 27).
- Leader in World Amateur Golf Ranking points accumulated at the St. Andrews Links Trophy (June 7), British Amateur (June 20) and European Amateur Championship, if still an amateur (June 27).
- Final Qualifying. Top 4 at each of four sites (TBD).
- Top 5, not otherwise exempt, inside the top 20 in the Race to Dubai at the conclusion of the BMW International Open (July 5).
- Top 3, not otherwise exempt, who make the cut at the Genesis Scottish Open (July 12).
- Winner of the Last-Chance Qualifier (July 13).
