Masters Should Look at Exemption Categories

With a weak field this week in Bermuda, the Masters could get a winner who does not deserve a spot at Augusta in April.

Should winners in the fall receive invitations to the Masters?

Winning is hard at the PGA Tour level, and winning one of the eight FedEx Cup Fall events is not a piece of cake.

But this week’s event in Bermuda is a perfect example of why Augusta National needs to rethink its exemptions.

One player, Lucas Glover, is in the top 50 in the World Rankings at 48^th.

Twelve other players in the Butterfield Bermuda Championship field are between 61^st and 98^th, leaving the remainder of the field outside of the top 100, down to Christo Lamprecht, who is 950^th in the world.

A win by any of them will open the doors to Augusta in April, but is that what we want as fans — a winner six months from the first tee shot in the first major of the season getting into the Masters, likely from outside the top 100 in the world?

To be fair, it’s just not the Bermuda event that has a lackluster field. During the FedEx Cup regular season, some events also have a poor field rating, which brings down the ranking points for that specific event’s World Ranking.

In the 2024 Masters Qualifications, there are 20 separate qualification categories, the 17^th covering winning on the PGA Tour — individual winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation from previous Masters to current Masters.

In 2024, eight players earned their spot in the Masters through this category only: Akshay Bhatia, Nick Dunlap, Lee Hodges, Luke List, Peter Malnati, Grayson Murray, Erik van Rooyen and Camilo Villegas.

Five of the eight made the cut, with the best finish a T35 for Bhatia and Villegas, T38 for List, 51^st for Murray and T55 for van Rooyen. Dunlap, Hodges and Malnati missed the cut, which was top 50 and ties.

It’s hard to make the case for continuing the space for the eight players, especially how the world of golf is changing with LIV and how the European Tour seemingly has better players than many gave the tour credit for.

The Masters has never been about having the best field, but given the event’s cachet, making some changes to qualifications to enhance the field strength makes perfect sense.

If I had my choice, I would like to see five to 10 spots set aside for a 36-hole qualifier on the Monday and Tuesday of the week before the Masters.

Talk about a fan favorite.

Such an event would be off the charts.