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Ian Poulter will miss the Masters next week, despite the LIV golfers being allowed to compete in the tournament. Interestingly, it would be the first time since 1999 that Poulter won't be participating in any of the major tournaments.
The LIV Golf player is down to 151st in the Official World Golf Rankings and is missing the basic eligibility criteria to qualify for the competition.
The English golfer has won 17 professional events in his career and finished in the fifth position at the Masters in 2015. However, he never won any major tournaments.
Ian Poulter is now barred from competing on the PGA Tour following his contract with LIV Golf. The contract also eliminates his chances of serving as Ryder Cup captain.
He recently justified his decision to join LIV Golf in an exclusive interview with Indian news channel WION.
"Don't know if it (LIV Golf) has brought us together but we understood the ability of what this would give us. It gives us a platform to play golf, the same way the European tour has a platform, same way the Asian Tour and the same way the PGA tour. And players like myself have played these tours and tournaments all over the globe for 24 years.
"This is another outlet for us to be able to go and play golf. This is why we took the choice to join LIV, we saw the vision, we saw the brand and how it would add to the team format situation and I am proud to be in a position where we have our team set."
LIV golfers' rankings have been falling as their event points have not been added to OGWR, resulting in most golfers missing the eligibility criteria to compete in the Masters. Only a few special exemptions allowed them to be part of the star-studded field at Augusta National.
How to qualify for the 2023 Masters?
The officials had announced 19 qualifying criteria for the 2023 Masters. Here is a list of all of them:
- 1) Previous Masters winners
- 2) US Open winner
- 3) The Open Championship winner
- 4) PGA Championship winner
- 5) The Players Championship winner
- 6) The top two finishers in the US Amateur
- 7) Winner British Amateur
- 8) Asia Pacific Amateur winner
- 9) Latin America Amateur winner
- 10) US Mid-Amateur winner
- 11) Olympic Golf Medalist
- 12) Top-12 Masters finishers
- 13) Top 4 US Open finishers
- 14) Top 4 Open Championship finishers
- 15) Top 4 PGA Championship finishers
- 16) PGA Tour event winners
- 17) PGA Tour qualifying players
- 18) Top 50 in World Rankings on January 1
- 19) Top 50 in World Rankings ahead of the Masters
LIV Golf players who have qualified for The Masters
The majority of LIV golfers invited to the Masters are those who have previously won the tournament. Some others were invited because of their rankings and last year's finish in the major tournament.
The following are the LIV golfers who will compete in the Masters in 2023:
- Abraham Ancer
- Bryson DeChambeau
- Sergio Garcia
- Talor Gooch
- Dustin Johnson
- Brooks Koepka
- Jason Kokrak
- Phil Mickelson
- Kevin Na
- Joaquin Niemann
- Louis Oosthuizen
- Mito Peirera
- Thomas Pieters
- Patrick Reed
- Charl Schwartzel
- Cameron Smith
- Harold Varner
- Bubba Watson
