Masters 2025: Only 12 LIV Golf members are in the field, and merger is ‘not happening anytime soon’

The PGA Tour and LIV Golf are again collectively once more.

Nicely, briefly at the least.

A dozen members from the Saudi Arabian-backed circuit are within the discipline this week on the Masters, which can mark simply one in every of 4 occasions this season the place the 2 excursions are built-in once more. The Tour and the Public Funding Fund, which backs LIV Golf, are nonetheless in negotiations about their proposed merger. It is nonetheless unclear when that might be finalized, although, as it has been nearly two full years now because the shock announcement. Negotiations do not seem to be they’re getting wherever, both.

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“I think we all would like to see that,” Jon Rahm stated Tuesday when requested concerning the golf world coming again collectively once more. “But as far as I can tell and you guys can tell, it’s not happening anytime soon.”

That is the fewest quantity of golfers that LIV has had within the Masters since its inception, and greater than half of them have lifetime exemptions resulting from previous wins at Augusta Nationwide. One golfer, Joaquin Niemann, acquired a particular exemption to earn a spot within the discipline.

There are 20 alternative ways to earn a spot within the Masters discipline, beginning with successful the occasion. That earns a lifetime exemption into the event, whereas wins on the different three majors earn entry for the following 5 years. A win at The Gamers Championship offers a three-year exemption. Should you end inside the highest 12 within the Masters, you might be robotically invited again the next 12 months. A prime 4 end at any of the opposite main championship additionally ensures an invite. Any PGA Tour win inside a calendar 12 months and people who are inside the highest 50 within the Official World Golf Rankings are invited, too. LIV Golf nonetheless doesn’t earn OWGR factors, nonetheless, which is making it more and more troublesome for members to earn main spots.

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Whereas it is a distinctive second for the game with everybody again collectively once more, it is solely going to occur three extra occasions this 12 months.

“Anytime I get an opportunity to play against everyone, the best players in the world, it’s great. I think that’s what we’re all hoping for at some point is for that to be figured out,” Bryson DeChambeau stated. “That’s beyond me and beyond my scope, unfortunately.

“I believe in some unspecified time in the future if the gamers get all collectively, I believe we might determine it out. But it surely’s much more sophisticated, clearly, than what all of us suppose. Hopefully sooner or later it will get discovered and we are able to make that occur.”

Here’s a look at the 12 LIV Golf members competing for a green jacket this week in Georgia.

LIV Golf at the Masters: Former Winners

Jon Rahm

Best finish: 1 (2023)
Status: Lifetime exemption

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Jon Rahm was perhaps the best golfer to join the LIV circuit, and it’s shown at the Masters. He won in 2023, and he’s not missed a single cut there. Last season, though, was his worst outing with a T45 run.

Patrick Reed

Best finish: 1 (2018)
Status: Lifetime exemption

Patrick Reed won his Masters title before making the jump to LIV Golf, but he’s been in contention in just about every year since. He’s not finished worse than T35, made every cut and finished T4 in 2023. He’s only missed one cut at a major since joining LIV Golf, too.

Dustin Johnson

Best finish: 1 (2020)
Status: Lifetime exemption

Dustin Johnson has been on a steady decline since his Masters win, which came at the rescheduled COVID-19 version in 2020. He missed the cut last year, too, and didn’t finish better than T31 in any of his major appearances.

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Phil Mickelson

Best finish: 1 (2004, 2006, 2010)
Status: Lifetime exemption

Phil Mickelson is the only LIV Golf member to have won a green jacket three times, but it’s been 15 years since he last pulled that feat off. The 54-year-old, though, has largely struggled at the major championships in recent years. He’s missed the cut in eight of his last 12 major starts, including in his last four U.S. Open runs. But his two outliers in the last four years were incredible. He won the PGA Championship in 2021, which was his first major win in nearly a decade, and he finished T2 at the Masters in 2023.

While it would take a remarkable week, Mickelson knows how to play well at Augusta National.

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Bubba Watson

Best finish: 1 (2012, 2014)
Status: Lifetime exemption

Like Mickelson, Bubba Watson is the only other LIV Golf member to have won the Masters multiple times. But his last win was more than a decade ago, he’s missed the cut in each of the last two years and he hasn’t finished better than T39 since making the jump to LIV Golf. The Masters has been the only major he’s played in since the 2022 campaign, too.

Sergio Garcia

Best finish: 1 (2017)
Status: Lifetime exemption

Sergio Garcia finally grabbed his first major championship win with his playoff victory at Augusta National in 2017. He’s struggled to keep his eligibility in the other three events since then, however, and he’s missed the cut at the Masters in five of his last six starts.

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Charl Schwartzel

Best finish: 1 (2011)
Status: Lifetime exemption

The Masters is one of just two PGA Tour wins that Charl Schwartzel has to his name, though it came nearly 15 years ago. He’s missed the cut in three of his last six starts at Augusta, though there’s a T10 finish in there.

LIV Golf on the Masters: Different entries

Bryson DeChambeau

Greatest end: T6 (2024)
Standing: By way of 2029 (U.S. Open win, 2024)

Bryson DeChambeau is seemingly in the perfect place to win a serious this season among the many LIV Golf group. He gained the U.S. Open final 12 months, completed second on the PGA Championship and went T6 at Augusta Nationwide, which was his greatest Masters end on document. It got here after back-to-back missed cuts within the occasion, nonetheless, so we’ll shortly see if final 12 months’s efficiency was simply an outlier.

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Brooks Koepka

Greatest end: T2 (2019, 2023)
Standing: By way of 2028 (PGA Championship win, 2023)

After a dominant majors run earlier than LIV Golf, Brooks Koepka has largely slowed down. He didn’t end inside the highest 20 in any of them final season, however he went T2 on the Masters in 2023 and gained the PGA Championship a month later. It was his second runner-up end on the Masters within the final 5 years.

Tyrrell Hatton

Greatest end: T9 (2024)
Standing: By way of 2025 (T9 end on the Masters, 2024)

Tyrrell Hatton has missed the minimize simply as soon as in his final 12 main begins, and he’s coming off the perfect Masters end in his profession final season. He has 9 worldwide wins in his profession, one in every of which was on the PGA Tour, and he gained final 12 months on LIV Golf in Nashville shortly after becoming a member of.

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Joaquin Niemann

Greatest end: T16 (2023)
Standing: By way of 2025 (Particular Exemption)

Joaquin Niemann has simply two PGA Tour wins in his profession, and he’s solely on this week on a particular exemption. He did win twice on LIV Golf final 12 months and he gained the PIF Saudi Worldwide in December, nonetheless, so he’s nonetheless enjoying nice golf regardless of his lack of factors or standing. He completed T22 final 12 months on the Masters. Mickelson lately insinuated that Niemann is the No. 1 participant on the earth, too.

Cameron Smith

Greatest end: T2 (2020)
Standing: By way of 2027 (British Open win, 2022)

Cameron Smith has been nice on the Masters, despite the fact that he’s but to win a inexperienced jacket. He has 4 top-10 finishes in his final six begins, together with a runner-up end in 2021 and a T6 end final 12 months. Although he has only one main win in his profession, he feels resulting from lastly break by means of quickly.