Augusta National Chairman, Fred Ridley, has dismissed the notion of LIV Golf providing a pathway into future Masters Tournaments. LIV’s participation in this week’s Masters remains restricted due to their lack of Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) recognition, a result of their rejection last October when they applied for OWGR sanctioning.
Ridley pointed to LIV’s 54-hole no-cut format and limited promotion and relegation system as reasons for the rejection. When discussing the potential for LIV Golf to establish a qualification system, Ridley emphasized the challenges due to LIV’s closed structure.
“I think it will be difficult to establish any type of point system that had any connection to the rest of the world of golf because they’re basically, not totally, but for the most part, a closed shop,” Ridley said of the LIV setup. “There is some relegation, but not very much.
“It all really depends on what new players they sign. Those concerns were expressed by the OWGR, but I don’t think that that prevents us from giving subjective consideration based on talent, based on performance to those players. Our goal is to have, to the greatest extent possible, the best field in golf, the best players in the world.
“Having said that, we never have had all the best players in the world because of the structure of our tournament. It’s an invitational. It’s limited field, it’s a small field.”
