The Masters – 2023

The world of golf makes its way to Georgia for the first major championship of the year, the 87th Masters Tournament.

The biggest story line heading into this week is the inclusion of LIV Golfers in the Master’s field who were suspended by the PGA Tour.

In December, Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley announced that the qualified players that left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf would be allowed to compete in the 2023 Masters field.

Among the qualified LIV Golfers in the field are eight previous Masters winners.

Phil Mickelson (2004 & 2010), Dustin Johnson (2020), Patrick Reed (2018), Sergio Garcia (2017), Bubba Watson (2012 & 2014), and Charl Schwartzel (2011) joined LIV Golf in 2022, and were subsequently suspended from the PGA Tour.

There are a total of 18 LIV Golf players in the field this week.

Notables in the field (OWGR Top-30)

The LIV Golf invitees are included in a stacked field for this week’s event. As anticipated, all of the top players in the Official World Golf Ranking are on site at Augusta this week to compete for the green jacket.

Similar to the designated events on the PGA Tour, the purse for the Masters received a bump this year.

Last year the field competed for a total of $15 million with $2.7 million going to the eventual champion Scottie Scheffler.

This year the purse increased to $20 million with $3.6 million going to the champion.

Players to Watch

Tiger Woods

This will be Tiger’s 25th trip to Augusta National for the Masters. The 15 time major champion has won the Masters five times (1997, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2019).

Woods only has one start on the PGA Tour this season which came at the event he hosts, the Genesis Invitational where he finished in a tie for 45th place.

While recovering from a 2021 car crash that nearly took his leg, Tiger has only played in 4 events over the last two seasons.

Tiger acknowledged that he will only be able to play a limited schedule going forward, which means it’s unlikely that we’ll see Woods outside of the majors and his hosted events.

Wood is currently ranked 218th in the FedEx Cup, and 995th in the OWGR.

Tony Finau

This will be Tony’s sixth trip to Augusta National. In five previous trips Tony’s best finish was fifth place in the 2019 Tournament.

In 2018 in his first Masters Invite, Tony famously rolled his ankle after celebrating a hole-in-one in his first Masters appearance during the Par-3 competition prior to the actual tournament.

So far this season on the PGA Tour out of 10 event entered, Tony has nine top-25 finishes, which include 3 top-10 finishes and a win.

Finau’s win came at the Cadence Bank Houston Open back in November.

His last event entered was the WGC Match Play event at the end of March. He finished in a tie for 17th place and failed to make it out of the group stage despite winning his first two matches of the tournament.

Tony is currently ranked 9th in the FedEx Cup, and 13th in the OWGR.

Sahith Theegala

This will be Sahith’s first invite to the Masters. He qualified for this year’s tournament by making the season ending Tour Championship. If that wasn’t enough Sahith would of also qualified for the Masters by being in the top-50 in the OWGR at the end of last year’s calendar year.

So far this season in 14 events on the PGA Tour, Sahith has seven top-25 finishes, including five top-10s. His best result in official events on the PGA Tour was a tie for second place at the RSM Classic back in November.

In unofficial events, Theegala won the QBE Shootout with partner Tom Hoge.

Sahith is currently ranked 16th in the FedEx Cup, and 29th in the OWGR.

Harold Varner III

This will be Harold’s second trip to Augusta National. In his first trip in 2022 he finished in 23rd place.

Harold left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf, and was subsequently suspended by the PGA Tour.

Since joining LIV Golf, Harold has competed in seven events; three this season and four in 2022. His best finish with LIV Golf was a seventh place finish at the LIV Golf – Bangkok tournament in October of last year.

Harold’s most recent appearance on the golf course was in Orlando for the third LIV Golf event of the year. He finished the 54-hole tournament at seven-under-par which was good enough for 19th place, eight strokes behind eventual winner Brooks Koepka.

Since Harold is no longer a PGA Tour member he was removed from the FedEx Cup rankings along with the rest of the LIV Golf defectors, however he is currently ranked 57th in the OWGR. He qualified for the masters by being in the top-50 of the OWGR at the end of the 2022 calendar year.

Cam Champ

This will be Cam’s fourth trip to Augusta National. In three previous appearances at the Masters, Cam has made every cut with his best finish of 10th place coming in last year’s (2022) tournament.

In 10 events so far this season on the PGA Tour, Cam has just one top-25 finish which was 8th place at the ZOZO Championship back in October of 2022.

Cam is currently ranked 163rd in the FedEx Cup, and 194th in the OWGR.

Tee Times

Woods: Thursday -10:18 AM; Friday – 1:24 PM

Finau: Thursday – 2 PM; Friday – 10:54 AM

Theegala: Thursday – 9:24 AM; Friday – 12:36 PM

Varner III: Thursday -12:12 PM; Friday – 9 AM

Champ: Thursday -11:06 AM; Friday – 8 AM

How to watch

Par-3 Contest – Wednesday (4/5): 3 – 5 PM (ESPN)

Thursday (4/6) & Friday (4/7): 3 PM to 7:30 PM (ESPN)

Saturday (4/8): 3 PM to 7 PM (CBS)

Sunday (4/9): 2 PM to 7 PM (CBS)

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