The Masters doesn’t appear to be inclined to change its qualifying criteria in 2024. 

Speaking to reporters Thursday in Australia, Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley said he didn’t expect any changes to the criteria for the prestigious tournament.

It comes as LIV Golf League players had hoped to see new pathways created to qualify for major championships. 

Phil Mickelson and others part of the rebel golf circuit have expressed concerns after the Official World Golf Ranking rejected LIV Golf’s application for world ranking points.

“As you recall last year, there was some speculation as to whether or not we would invite LIV golfers, and we stayed true to our qualification criteria and we invited everyone who was eligible,” Ridley said, according to ESPN. 

“And so, while we do not at this time anticipate making any changes in 2024, you know, we do always look at them and we will continue to do that. I would just answer by saying that, you know, that our qualifications are very much dynamic, and we adjust to what we feel is the best interests of the tournament representing the best players in the world, so we always look at that.”

Among the ways golfers can qualify for The Masters include finishing in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the previous calendar year or being in the top 50 of the rankings during the week prior to the tournament. 

There were 18 LIV Golf League players who qualified for the 2023 Masters, including Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Dustin Johnson, Charl Schwartzel, Sergio Garcia and Bubba Watson, who all have lifetime exemptions as past Masters winners. 

Ridley said that whatever Augusta National does with the tournament’s qualifying rules is for the good of The Masters. 

“You know, they made decisions based on what they thought was in the best interests of their golf careers, and we certainly respect that,” Ridley said. “We do have in our invitation criteria, it does say that we reserve the right to invite special exemptions to international players, although we did issue a special exemption to an amateur last year. So we are always looking at that.

“But these decisions have been made and we’ll have to do what’s in the best interests of the Masters and we’ll continue to do that.”

As it currently stands, only Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau and Koepka (who qualified by winning other majors in the past five years) are the only LIV golfers eligible for the 2024 tournament, along with previous Masters winners.