There are now 80 golfers who have received invitations to the 2023 Masters Tournament.
There are now 80 golfers who have received invitations to the 2023 Masters Tournament.
Count reigning NCAA champion Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt among them.
Sargent and six-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, Kazuki Higa, were announced by Fred Ridley, Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, on Thursday morning as the two latest invites. Both will be making their Masters debuts.
“The Masters Tournament prioritizes opportunities to elevate both amateur and professional golf around the world. Thus, we have extended invitations to two deserving players not otherwise qualified,” Ridley said in a statement released by the club. “Whether on the international stage or at the elite amateur level, each player has showcased their talent in the past year. We look forward to hosting them at Augusta National in April.”
Sargent, 19, is a sophomore at Vanderbilt who won the individual title at the 2022 NCAAs in Scottsdale, Arizona, after surviving a four-way playoff. He is the first freshman to win the national title since 2007 and the first amateur to accept a special invitation to the Masters since 2000. There were six amateurs in the field in 2022.
Higa, 27, won four times on the Japan Golf Tour in 2022, and has six wins on the circuit in all. He finished first on the tour’s Order of Merit last year.
There are still spots in the 2023 Masters up for grabs, including the winner of the 2023 Latin America Amateur Championship, winners of upcoming PGA Tour events as well as those who are ranked in the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking the week prior to the Masters, which is April 6-9.
Maintaining a high spot on the OWGR allows golfers who have never won a major to earn exemptions into future majors.
When stars like Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau joined LIV Golf, many focused on the nine-figure contracts these major champions reportedly signed, and their suspensions from the PGA Tour. Then Brooks Koepka signed with LIV, followed by Bubba Watson, Joaquin Niemann and the 2022 Players Championship and British Open winner, Cameron Smith.
But starting in September, the conversation shifted to the value of something that money can’t buy, at least not yet — Official World Golf Ranking points. In a statement on Sept. 21, LIV Golf commissioner Greg Norman stated that not only should LIV Golf competitors start getting OWGR points for their performances, but they should also retroactively get points for LIV events they had already played.
In the following weeks, Patrick Reed, Graeme McDowell and other LIV golfers questioned the legitimacy of the rankings if LIV players continued to be denied points for LIV events.
The rankings are crucial to LIV Series golfers for reasons that go beyond pride. Maintaining a high spot on the OWGR allows golfers who have never won a major championship to earn exemptions into future majors, and while each championship uses slightly different criteria to create its field, they each reward golfers with a high rank at specific times with an exemption into their tournament.
As of now, the governing bodies of golf’s four major championships — Augusta National Golf Club, the PGA of America, the United States Golf Association and the R&A — have not announced any changes to qualifying criteria for 2023. If nothing changes, the exemption lists below will be how professional golfers get into the field of next season’s Masters Tournament, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and British Open, along with the ways that professional golfers who compete on the LIV Series have already earned spots.
So does the voice of the Masters have an idea when he’ll make his last drive down Magnolia Lane to cover that event for CBS Sports?
“The Masters, I would like to do it 51 times, as bizarre as that sounds,” he said during an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show on Tuesday. “My 51st Masters would be the 100th playing of the Masters. And, I’d like to be there to see the end of the first century. That’s just a little goal that I have in the back of my head.
“I’m through 37 right now, so 14 to go, hopefully.”
“Did you just announce your Masters retirement?” Patrick asked.
“I did,” Nantz said with a smile. (Though it should be noted that Nantz has been claiming this plan publicly for nearly 10 years ever since legendary broadcaster Jack Whitaker noted that the 2036 Masters would be the 100th playing of the tournament.)
If that holds, golf fans will get to hear Nantz, 63, repeat his Masters catchphrase “Hello, friends” 14 more times.
While he’s preparing to say goodbye to the premier event in college basketball, he plans to continue to call NFL games alongside Tony Romo on CBS “hopefully another decade or so. Or maybe a little beyond.”
But it’s Augusta National in April that’s nearest and dearest to him. He first worked the tournament in 1986, the year Jack Nicklaus won his sixth and final green jacket. He became host in 1989.
Finishing in 2036 on the centennial anniversary (the Masters, which debuted in 1934 wasn’t held from 1943-1945 during World War II) would be a fitting bookend to his golf announcing career.
“The Masters, to me, is the thing that is the deepest in my heart,” he said. “I’ve never chosen one sport as my favorite event to do but I think everyone knows that the Masters is something I feel a real personal tie to.
“It was the one event that when I was 11 years old I turned to my mom and dad and said ‘That’s what I’d like to do someday, I’d like to be one of those voices. … I want to do that.’ And I’ve been so fortunate that I’m still living that childhood dream even into my 60s so, it’s been pretty amazing.”
It’s been more than a month since we last saw LIV golfers on the course.
It’s been more than a month since we last saw LIV Golf Series players on the course but that’s how it’s going in this breakaway league, which has only eight events in 2022.
Ahead of the fourth event during this inaugural season, LIV introduced its six newest members Wednesday in Bolton, Massachusetts, outside Boston.
The International is the host venue for the three-day, 54-hole, no-cut event that starts Friday.
Cam Smith, Champion Golfer of the Year and Players Championship winner, makes his circuit debut. He’s ranked No. 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking and is now the highest ranked member of the Saudi government-backed golf series.
Two-time Masters champ Bubba Watson is also making his first appearance but he won’t be playing just yet. Still recovering from knee surgery, Watson is LIV Golf’s first non-playing captain.
There are 12 teams of four golfers, and Watson’s squad includes fellow newcomer Harold Varner III.
Other recent signees include Anirban Lahiri, Cameron Tringale and Marc Leishman.
“Augusta National, the promoter of The Masters, has taken multiple actions to indicate its alignment with the PGA Tour.”
What role has Augusta National and chairman Fred Ridley had in the current brouhaha between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf Invitational Series? More than you might think if a 105-page complaint filed by Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and nine other players asking for a temporary restraining order so that LIV defectors can compete in the upcoming FedEx Cup Playoffs is to be believed.
“Augusta National, the promoter of The Masters, has taken multiple actions to indicate its alignment with the PGA Tour, thus seeding doubt among top professional golfers whether they would be banned from future Masters Tournaments,” according to an antitrust lawsuit filed by 11 LIV golfers on Wednesday against the Tour. “As an initial matter, the links between the PGA Tour and Augusta National run deep. The actions by Augusta National indicate that the PGA Tour has used these channels to pressure Augusta National to do its bidding. For example, in February, 2022 Augusta National representatives threatened to disinvite players from The Masters if they joined LIV Golf.”
It notes, among other things, that the Tour asked Augusta National officials to attend “an emergency meeting” of the player advisory council meeting in May, ahead of LIV Golf’s maiden tournament once the field was announced, “to discuss ramifications for players participating in LIV Golf.” While officials did not attend the meeting, they did tell players in attendance at the meeting that the Tour and Augusta National had agreed to work together in addressing LIV Golf, according to the plaintiffs.
“The threat of exclusion from the Masters is a powerful weapon in the Tour’s arsenal to deter players from joining LIV Golf,” the suit claims.
The suit also claims that Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley has been working behind the scenes against the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf.
“In addition, Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley personally instructed a number of participants in the 2022 Masters not to play in the LIV Golf Invitational Series. Plainly, these threats to top players served no beneficial purpose, as they would only serve to weaken the field in the Masters,” the claim states.
The lawsuit also says that Ridley declined a request for a meeting from LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman.
Ridley also allegedly called Asian Tour CEO Cho Minn Thant along with R&A Chief Executive Martin Slumbers “to threaten consequences relating to the Asian Tour’s position in the current ‘ecosystem’ if the Asian Tour continued to support LIV Golf and its LIV Golf Invitational Series.”
In his only public comments related to LIV Golf Ridley said at the Masters in April, “Our mission is to always act in the best interest of the game in whatever form that may take. I think that golf is in a good place right now. There’s more participation, the purses on the professional tours are the highest they’ve ever been. We’ve been pretty clear in our belief that the world tours have done a great job in promoting the game over the years. Beyond that, there’s so much that we don’t know about what might happen or what could happen, I can’t say much more beyond that.”
There are six former Masters champions that have bolted for LIV Golf — three-time champ Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Charl Schwartzel and Bubba Watson, a two-time green jacket winner who announced his intentions last week that he would join LIV as soon as he was healthy and begin his involvement as a non-playing captain with the start of the next event Labor Day week near Boston.
Saudi Arabia has been accused of wide-ranging human rights abuses, including politically motivated killings, torture, forced disappearances and inhumane treatment of prisoners. And members of the royal family and Saudi government were accused of involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist.
Nick Faldo started in TV on ABC in 2004 before switching networks.
Nick Faldo’s 16-year career as a golf commentator on CBS Sports is coming to an end.
Faldo announced Tuesday that he’s stepping out of the booth, which he currently shares with Jim Nantz, and retiring. Faldo was last seen in the 18th tower for CBS at the RBC Canadian Open nine days ago, just ahead of the U.S. Open, and will be working this week at the Travelers Championship.
Faldo, a six-time major winner, once said he never imagined himself doing TV work at all.
“Just the complete opposite,” he said in 2013 at Oak Hill Country Club ahead of the 95th PGA Championship. “I said ‘There’s no way I’m going to be on tour for 28 weeks a year, and then retire and be on tour for 28 weeks a year and sit in a TV tower. No way.”’
Nick Faldo (left) and Jim Nantz are joined by Memorial Tournament host Jack Nicklaus in the CBS Sports booth at Muirfield Village Golf Club on June 3, 2017 in Dublin, Ohio. (Photo: Chris Condon/PGA Tour)
It was a stint on ABC at the 2004 British Open that changed his mind about doing TV work. He was with that network for three seasons before CBS brought him on in 2006, replacing Lanny Wadkins as lead analyst.
“My job is the how, what and when guy,” he told the Democrat & Chronicle. “I let the viewer know what it’s like to be a pro golfer in a certain situation. How is he going to do, what is he going to do and what went wrong.”
On social media, Faldo noted that the first PGA Tour event he played was the Greater Greensboro Open, and that the last event he will work as an analyst will be that same event, now called the Wyndham Championship, 43 years later. He also said that he intends to settle at Faldo Farm, which is currently under construction in Montana, with his wife Lindsay, and devote more time to family and fishing.
Faldo, 64, won 33 times internationally, another nine on the PGA Tour and he won six majors: three green jackets at the Masters and three British Opens. His best finish in the U.S. Open was solo second in 1988; he also tied for second in the 1992 PGA Championship. Along the way, he held the top spot on the Official World Golf Ranking for 97 weeks.
Faldo also has a successful golf course design company, which has done work in more than 20 countries.
It’s that time of year again. It’s time to apply for Masters tickets.
It’s that time of year once again.
Time for golf fans to fill out that online application in the hopes that their names are called so they can purchase tickets to the Masters.
On Wednesday, June 1, the official online application process for practice round and tournament round tickets for the 2023 Masters Tournament opens.
“All tickets will be awarded through a selection process,” says the website. The application process is open till June 21, 2022.
Prices for 2023 aren’t listed yet but in 2022, practice-round tickets were $75 and daily tournament tickets were $115.
The 87th Masters is scheduled for April 3-9, 2023. Monday and Tuesday are the practice rounds, Wednesday is the Par 3 Contest, the first round is Thursday and the final round will be Sunday.
For those interested, you do need to create a free account at masters.com and even if you have an account, you may need to update it:
We have recently completed enhancements to our online ticket process. To ensure the best user experience, current account holders may be asked to reset their password upon entering a 2023 ticket application. If you have not previously created an account/applied for tickets, you may create an account at this time in preparation for the next application process.
If you do score the right to purchase tickets, remember that parking is always free at Augusta National Golf Club.
Pro golfers Laura Restrepo and Trevor Sluman had a life-changing experience at Augusta National.
Epson Tour player Laura Restrepo had a life-changing experience at the Masters two weeks ago.
As Tiger Woods made his way to the 14th tee, Restrepo and longtime boyfriend Trevor Sluman were among the few patrons who remained around Amen Corner.
While a Woods sighting in 2022 is particularly unforgettable, it paled in comparison to the events that followed.
“You’re not allowed to have a phone [on the grounds] but you can bring a camera on practice days,” Restrepo told epsontour.com. “We asked a guy that was standing nearby if he could take our picture. He said, ‘Of course. It’s a good thing you asked me because I’m a photographer.’ After taking it, he wandered down about 15 yards and Trevor thought that was a perfect in.
“He told me, ‘I’m going to ask him to retake it so you can see the green better.’ And I was like, ‘Sure.’ Trevor went over to the guy and must have told him that he was about to propose and if he would take pictures. I was standing by the green ready to take another picture and Trevor pulled out a ring. I was so shocked. I couldn’t believe it.”
Laura Restrepo and Trevor Sluman celebrate their engagement on Amen Corner during the 2022 Masters. (Photo: Laura Restrepo)
The couple met while playing collegiate golf at Louisville and started dating in 2014. Trevor, whose uncle Jeff Sluman won six times on the PGA Tour and competed in 17 Masters, won the 2019 Sanya Championship on the PGA Tour Series-China, months before Restrepo won her first Epson Tour title at the Guardian Championship.
Restrepo, 28, is one of 120 players in the field for this week’s Copper Rock Championship in Hurricane, Utah. She tied for second last month at the Carlisle Arizona Women’s Golf Classic. Sluman is back to work competing this week in Brazil.
“I couldn’t think of a better place for Trevor to propose,” Restrepo said. “It was incredible. Every time we were watching after on TV and they showed 13 we were like, ‘That’s where it happened.’
“The Masters is always going to be very special to us. Trevor was on the Korn Ferry Tour the last two years and now he’s playing the PGA Tour Latinoamérica. Hopefully one day when Trevor is playing in the Masters, it’ll take on even more of a special meaning.”
The Masters Tournament is the most prestigious men’s professional golf event and it seems like it gets bigger every year.
The prize money definitely got bigger in 2022, as the purse ballooned to $11,500,000, with $2,700,000 going to the winner, Scottie Scheffler. That’s up from the $2,070,000 earned by Hideki Matsuyama in 2021.
Prize money aside, there’s a lot of green at the Masters (pun intended) but according to a report by Forbes, the folks at Augusta National Golf Club could be making so much more.
We all know that the club plays a lot of things close to the vest. Very little gets out in terms of how it goes about its business. It’s a private club and the membership likes it that way. And that’s all good.
But in the article on Forbes, reporter Justin Teitelbaum extrapolates some interesting numbers. He writes that the 2022 tournament generated, by his estimates, $142 million. Meanwhile, the 2022 U.S. Open run by the U.S. Golf Association, will bring in $160 million.
Teitelbaum’s breakdown of the Masters goes like this:
Merchandise, $69 million
Badges, $39 million
International TV broadcast rights, $25 million
Concessions, $8 million
Notice anything missing? North American TV rights. That figure is $0. The U.S. Open will collect $93 million from its domestic TV rights.
It’s perhaps the most interesting money angle to the entire tournament, as Teitelbaum writes:
Augusta has just six sponsors—AT&T, Delta, IBM, Mercedes Benz, Rolex and UPS—which split a minimalistic four minutes of commercial time per hour of event coverage. Most of the sponsorship money goes directly to Augusta’s media partners, CBS and ESPN, to cover the cost of production, with the rest going to pay to host hospitality events for VIP patrons. Given that the U.S. Open generates at least $15 million per year in sponsorship revenue, it is safe to assume that the Masters could pull in at least $20 million, thanks to its much higher TV viewership. The Masters generates no domestic TV revenue because its agreements with CBS and ESPN allow Augusta complete control of the broadcast in exchange for no compensation.
On-course advertisements from those six sponsors aren’t even minimalistic; they’re non-existent. There are no ads anywhere on the property. That’s one of the charms of the event.
According to Teitelbaum, Lee Berke, from the consulting firm LHB Sports, Entertainment and Media, says domestic TV rights would be worth more than $100 million.
Admission to the Masters is also the best bargain in sports. That is, if you can get your hands on the face-value prices, which most people can’t. Nonetheless, says the Forbes report:
Being conservative, if Augusta were to charge half of what the secondary-market prices are, its badge revenue would jump to $185 million.
Bottom line, the Masters could be bringing in $269 million more than it does.
“Conversations with Champions, presented by Sentry” catches up with Ted Scott, caddie for Scottie Scheffler, at the Masters.
“Conversations with Champions, presented by Sentry” is a new weekly series from Golfweek that is a collaboration with the Caddie Network. Each week, we’ll take you behind the scenes in a chat with the winning caddie from the most recent PGA Tour event. This week: Scottie Scheffler and Ted Scott from the 86th Masters.
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Ted Scott walked off the 18th green at Augusta National well ahead of his boss, Scottie Scheffler. With his hat pushed up off his forehead and the staff bag slung over his right shoulder, Scott carried the flagstick – his trophy – down toward scoring.
Six months ago, Scott thought he was done caddying after a 15-year stint with Bubba Watson that included two Masters victories, came to an end. Now he’s working for Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world, and, as a team, they’ve won four of nine starts together. His Masters flag collection has now swelled to three.
“It’s very surreal,” said Scott. “It’s pretty crazy, actually.”
Ted Scott, caddie for Scottie Scheffler, gives high-fives to patrons after Scheffler won the 2022 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. (Photo: Adam Cairns-Augusta Chronicle/USA TODAY Sports)
The humble Scott won’t take any credit for Scheffler’s three-shot victory over Rory McIlroy. He teared up when talking about Steve Kling, the local caddie he stayed with during Masters week who answered question after question. Scott is quick to point out that he has yet to hit a shot here.
Last fall, Scott planned to retire from caddying and teach golf, something he’s been doing for years anyway. But when Scheffler called, Scott decided to put what happens next in the hands of his family.
“I had my kids and my wife pray about it,” said Scott. “They took a week and came back and said ‘Dad, we think you ought to do it.’ ”
Scott told them to pray about it another week. The answer came back the same.
Watson, Scott and Scheffler are tied together by their Christian faith. All three men are active in the PGA Tour’s Bible study group. After his round on Sunday, Watson was asked if he had any regrets about not having Scott on the bag. Watson said no, calling it a mutual split. In fact, he’s happy that another young player will benefit from Scott’s leadership.
“That’s why I hired Teddy years ago in ’06, and now Teddy being on the bag with Scottie,” said Watson. “All three of us are trying to do the same things. We’re trying to be the best husband we can be, trying to be the best parent we can be. Scottie is not a parent yet, but he will be at some point. We’re trying to do the same goals in life, and then golf just gets in the way. If you get your life somewhat in order, maybe a few more putts will go in.”
Scott wiped away tears as he videoed Scheffler’s green jacket ceremony on the practice green. Scheffler told the crowd there were times on Sunday that he felt like he should’ve been carrying the bag because he was blindly following Scott’s lead.
Scott Scheffler celebrates with his caddie Ted Scott after winning the 2022 Masters Tournament. (Photo: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports)
Phillip Allen of the Twenty First Group did the math on the difference in Scheffler’s bottom line since having Scott on the bag and the numbers are striking. In 62 starts on the PGA Tour pre-Scott, Scheffler had zero wins and made $8.56 million. With Scott, he has four victories in nine starts, for $9.04 million ($1 million per start).
Scheffler’s admiration for Scott, however, extends well beyond his ability to caddie.
“I can’t say enough about him,” said Scheffler. “You know, the qualities you look for in a person, Ted embodies pretty much all of them. He’s humble. He’s hard-working. He’s honest. He’s a good time to be around. I even, he’s just — he’s an amazing guy. To be able to have him on the bag is so special.”
Winning caddies at the Masters can write a letter to request their iconic white jumpsuits. Like many, Scott has grand plans for his memorabilia. He plans to eventually display everything in the building where he instructs.
But like everything with these two, it’s what’s inside that matters most. Before the round began on Sunday, Scott unzipped his jumpsuit to show Scheffler what was written on his green T-shirt: “God is in control.”
He might want to save that one for the display wall, too.
Golfweek’s Adam Schupak contributed to this article.
The equipment
A complete list of the golf equipment Scottie Scheffler used to win the 2022 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club:
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