The year’s first men’s Major is fast approaching and the Masters field is once again stacked with Major winners, the PGA Tour’s best and a number of LIV Golfers like defending champion Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson.
There are various different ways to qualify for The Masters, and PGA Tour players still have a chance to make the field with a win – but there are a number of big names who’ll be missing this year’s Augusta showpiece including past Major winners, a former Masters champion and some LIV star players, including 2023 champion Talor Gooch.
Fans will miss seeing Bernhard Langer this year, who is out injured in what was supposed to be his Masters swansong, while another past winner Danny Willett is also racing to be fit after shoulder surgery at the end of last year. He recently told AP news that it will be “very, very close” as to whether he’ll be okay to play.
Other past champions Sandy Lyle and Larry Mize are also not playing after teeing it up in their final Masters last year.
Big Names Missing The Masters
Louis Oosthuizen
Oosthuizen’s Alfred Dunhill Championship and Mauritius Open (pictured) wins at the end of 2023 weren’t enough to get him into the field
(Image credit: Getty Images)
LIV Golf’s Louis Oosthuizen famously made an albatross on the par 5 2nd at Augusta in 2012, where he went on to lose in a playoff to Bubba Watson.
The South African won back-to-back DP World Tour titles at the end of 2023 but it wasn’t enough to move him inside the world’s top 50 – or receive a special invite like Joaquin Niemann – meaning he’s missing his first Masters since 2008.
Bernhard Langer
The two-time champion misses what was supposed to be his final Masters due to injury
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The 1985 and 1993 Green Jacket winner will be on property this year for the Champions Dinner but he will miss his first Masters since 2011 and only his second since 1983.
The German recently tore an achilles tendon while playing pickleball so won’t be fit for what was going to be his final Masters. Let’s hope he tees it up one last time next year.
Talor Gooch
Gooch won LIV’s $18m individual title last year but is currently outside the top 500 in the Official World Golf Ranking
(Image credit: Getty Images)
LIV Golf’s 2023 individual champion Gooch won three times in Australia,…
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