Inside the SI World Golf Rankings: Breaking Down the Masters Field

Digging into the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking and Sports Illustrated Rankings reveals differences in terms of the field for the year's first major.

Author:
John Schwarb
Publish date:
Mar 29, 2023

Depending on who wins this week at the Valero Texas Open, next week's Masters will have either 89 or 90 players.

The year's first major has the smallest field size of the four majors, and due to its traditional high number of amateurs and some past champions in their 50s and 60s, it's not the strongest field either based on world rankings.

But based on the Official World Golf Ranking and the SI World Golf Rankings, which shows the Masters to be stronger in the top 100?

The SIWGR uses the most recent 12 months of results in its proprietary, data-driven calculations, so our list is naturally more volatile than that of the OWGR, which uses 24 months of data. It also takes into consideration LIV Golf events, which the OWGR does not.

OWGR Top 100 and the Masters

All of the top 50 in the OWGR will play next week; part of the qualifying criteria for the Masters includes players ranked in the top 50 following last week's WGC-Match Play. That allowed Jason Day, Harris English, Keith Mitchell and Min Woo Lee to make the field.
No. 51 Lucas Herbert is the highest to not have a spot in the Masters and is not entered in the Valero Texas Open.
Taylor Montgomery and Rickie Fowler are the next highest ranked without Masters invites, at No. 58 and 59, and both playing Valero.
A total of 64 of the top 100 are in the Masters field prior to the Valero Texas Open.

SIWGR Top 100 and the Masters

The top 35 in the SIWGR all have Masters invites.
No. 36 Matt Kuchar is the highest ranked without a spot in the Masters and will try to get in by winning at TPC San Antonio.
Charles Howell III at No. 37 will not be in the Masters, though he won the season-opening LIV Golf event.
Jason Day (23), Harris English (35), Keith Mitchell (43) and Min Woo Lee (93) qualified for the Masters by the last top 50 OWGR cutoff.
A total of 26 LIV Golf players are in the top 100, and 13 of those players will compete in the Masters.
A total of 62 of the top 100 are in the Masters field prior to the Valero Texas Open.