Augusta National and the R&A Just Created Six New Ways to Get a Masters and Open Invite

National opens are some of the best events we have in this sport, and in my opinion, some of them don’t receive enough recognition. The Masters and The Open are looking to change that.

On Tuesday, Augusta National Golf Club and the R&A announced that winners of six national opens will now receive an invitation to both the Masters and The Open.

“The Masters Tournament has long recognized the significance of having international representation among its invitees,” Fred Ridley, Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament, said in a statement “We, along with The R&A, have a shared commitment to the global game and are proud to work together. Today’s announcement strengthens our organizations’ collective vision of rewarding top talent around the world who rise to the top of historic national open championships. We hope this formal recognition shines a bright light on these players and the events they will represent at the Masters and The Open, beginning next year.”

Here are the six national opens that have been added to the qualification list:

Scottish Open

Spanish Open

Japan Open

Hong Kong Open

Australia Open

South African Open

“We take great pride in the range of qualification routes we offer to players around the world through The Open Qualifying Series,” Mark Darbon, Chief Executive of The R&A, said in a statement. “We share the same goal as Augusta National to offer places in both The Open and the Masters to players competing in national opens and by doing so to help to showcase and strengthen our sport in those regions. This creates an outstanding opportunity for players in all parts of the world to qualify and we firmly believe this will continue to enrich the quality of the fields in both major championships.”

With this change, the Masters has also amended qualification 17, meaning it will only send invitations to winners of PGA TOUR events with full-point allocation (500 minimum) toward the TOUR Championship. These means that winners during the FedExCup Fall will no receive an invite to play in the Masters.