Belgium’s Thomas Pieters got a long look at Augusta National Golf Club on Sunday. He might not see it again for a while.
Pieters qualified for this Masters Tournament by being in the top 50 in the world ranking. As a LIV Golf tour member, that avenue probably won’t be an option next year for he and several of his mates on the breakaway tour.
When Pieters and others left for LIV Golf in 2022, they were suspended by the PGA Tour. It cut off their access to world ranking points through that tour and LIV Golf does not get ranking points. The tour’s application for points is still being studied by the Official World Golf Ranking.
SUNDAY AT THE MASTERS: Masters 2023 Sunday leaderboard updates: Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm battle
Pieters will play 27 holes on Sunday – completing his final nine holes of a rain-delayed third round from Saturday and the 18-hole final round. Pieters, 31, knows his move to LIV might cost him some Masters starts.
“I took my parents here because it could be my last one,” Pieters said. “That’s just being realistic. I don’t know. Time will tell. We’ll see.”
How LIV golfers could get into future Masters tournaments
Pieters and five other LIV Golf members qualified for the 2023 Masters through their world golf ranking.
The others were Abraham Ancer, Kevin Na, Jason Kokrak, Louis Oosthuizen and Harold Varner III. They all qualified by being in the top 50 at the end of 2022.
Since then, the former PGA Tour players on the LIV tour continue to plummet in the ranking.
In fact, of the six players who qualified via top 50 in the world, only half of them – Niemann (25th), Ancer (31st) and Pieters (44th) were there to start the week They will most likely drop out of the top 50 in the next six months, as Varner (60th), Kokrak (86th) and Na (96th) already have.
It can happen fast. Brooks Koepka, who joined LIV in June and was the world No. 1 as late as 2020, has dropped out of the top 100. Dustin Johnson is no longer in the top 50.
However, LIV golfers can still get in the Masters through the ranking by high finishes in the four majors – Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and British Open – since none of those are run by the PGA Tour.
It puts a lot of pressure on LIV golfers who are in the major to finish high and earn ranking points.
After having 18 LIV golfers in the Masters field this year, there could be as few as nine next year.
Six LIV golfers are former Masters champions with lifetime invitations: Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Charl Schartzel, Patrick Reed and Sergio Garcia.
The Masters also gives a five-year exemption to winners of the other three majors. That’s how Koepka, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau got into this Masters, and they will still have eligibility for the 2024 Masters.
Another way a LIV golfer can get into the Masters is by finishing in the top four in the other three majors. That is how Mito Pereira got in; he was third in PGA Championship.
Any golfer also gets a return ticket into the 2024 Masters by finishing in the top 12 this week.
One LIV golfer – Talor Gooch – got into the 2023 Masters by virtue of qualifying for the 2022 Tour Championship, but no LIV golfer will get in through that route this year.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Why LIV Golf is likely to have fewer players at 2024 Masters
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