LIV Golf Rebels WILL be allowed to play in the Masters

The Masters will allow LIV Golf players to compete in this year’s Augusta National after tournament officials chose not to ban them from the competition.

In what will be seen as a huge win for the Saudi Arabian-backed breakaway series, the likes of Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau will all be present at golf’s most famous tournament in April.

The decision comes amid an ongoing war between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf after a string of top names defected to the new series.

In a statement released Tuesday, Masters chiefs said: ‘Unfortunately, recent actions have divided men’s professional golf by diminishing the virtues of the game and the meaningful legacies of those who built it.

“While we are disappointed with these developments, our focus is to honor the tradition of bringing together a leading field of golfers in April.

“Therefore, as invitations are sent out this week, we will be inviting those who qualify under our current criteria to participate in the 2023 Masters tournament. As we have said in the past, we look at every aspect every year of the Tournament, and any adjustments or changes to the invitation criteria for future Tournaments will be announced in April.

“We have reached an important point in the history of our sport. At Augusta National, we are confident that golf, which has overcome many challenges over the years, will once again hold up.

Prior to The Masters decision, there was a lot of uncertainty about whether the gulf between golf was so strong that LIV Rebels would be turned away from the majors in 2023.

The decision to allow them to compete is a huge boost for the likes of Cameron Smith – the LIV Golfer and current Open champion – who had previously spoken out about his desperation to continue playing in the four biggest tournaments of the year.

Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald earlier this year, the world number 3 said: ‘I think the majors really need to be above all politics.

“If they really want the best product and the best players in the world playing against each other, they should let us play. There’s no reason other than playing another tour that should suggest we shouldn’t be playing.

“We are certainly good enough players. We should have those places.’

The Masters has become the second of the four major tournaments to announce its decision to allow LIV golfers to take part, after The Open Championship confirmed it would ‘ban no one’ from playing at the 151st Open at Royal Liverpool.

The Masters have now followed suit, leaving only the PGA Championship and US Open to determine their position.

Those four tournaments are separate from the main PGA Tour circuit, which have been extremely vocal in their criticism of the breakaway tour.