The Masters 2020: Live updates
Though Masters officials delayed the tournament by seven months, this year they declined to change the qualification requirements to account for this summer’s play, instead basing the invite-only field mainly on achievements from the 2019 season and early in 2020. So the field will comprise the golfers who had qualified for the Masters by the March cutoff date, with a number of golfers who have played well in the PGA Tour’s return from its coronavirus hiatus sitting things out.
Those invited to the Masters are past champions, recent major champions, recent PGA Tour winners and golfers in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings as of March 15, among others.
On Monday, the field shrank by one when tournament organizers announced that 2017 champion Sergio Garcia will miss the tournament after testing positive for the coronavirus. Rising star Joaquin Niemann, the first Chilean to win on the PGA Tour, previously withdrew because of a positive test.
Other than Garcia, Daniel Berger is the most notable — and controversial — absence this week. He was well outside the top 50 of the rankings at the established cutoff point in March but had risen to 13th as of last week, with a post-hiatus win, three other top-three finishes and a tie for 13th at the PGA Championship in August.
Other notable absences include Viktor Hovland (No. 24 in the world as of last week), Harris English (35th in the world, fourth at the U.S. Open in September, eight top-20 finishes since the restart) and Ryan Palmer (33rd in the world, four top-10 finishes since the restart).
One note about the cut: Starting this year, only the low 50 players and ties will advance to the weekend. From 2013 to 2019, anyone within 10 strokes of the leader made the cut, along with the top 50 and ties.
