The Masters Tournament announced Wednesday morning that two special invitations have been accepted.
Chile’s Joaquin Niemann and Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard will join the field for the year’s first major, April 10-13 at Augusta National Golf Club.
“In support of Augusta National’s efforts to develop interest in golf globally, deserving international players not otherwise qualified have been invited throughout the Tournament’s history,” Masters chairman Fred Ridley said. “The tradition continues as we welcome Nicolai and Joaquin back to the Masters, as both players have showcased their talent while competing around the world. We look forward to their arrival this April.”
This is Niemann’s second straight year receiving a special invite. The 26-year-old Niemann, who joined LIV Golf two years ago, is coming off a season in which he won twice and notched six other top-6 finishes on the Saudi-backed circuit. He also recently captured the Asian Tour’s Saudi International, and he sits No. 71 in the Official World Golf Ranking despite LIV still not receiving world-ranking points.
Niemann, who debuted at the Masters in 2018 after winning the Latin America Amateur, has made five previous starts at Augusta National while cracking the top 25 in each of the past two editions.
Hojgaard, 23, played his first Masters last year and briefly led on Saturday before slipping to a T-16 finish, just shy of earning his way back automatically.
With these two additions, the Masters field now stands at 87 invited players, which includes past champions Bernhard Langer, who is set to compete for the final time, and Angel Cabrera, who has not played a Masters since 2019 because of legal issues and a two-year prison sentence in his native Argentina. Cabrera was released in December 2023, though he didn’t obtain his visa to enter the U.S. until May, which forced him to miss last year’s Masters.
“Angel certainly is one of our great champions,” Ridley said in January 2024. “As we all know, he has been unable to participate in the Masters the last couple of years due to legal issues. Presently we have been in constant contact with Angel’s representatives. He presently is not able to enter the United States. He doesn’t have a visa, and I know that that process is being worked through. We certainly wish him the best of luck with that, and we’ll definitely welcome him back if he’s able to straighten out those legal issues.”
Still to be added is the winner of the Jan. 16-19 Latin America Amateur, upcoming winners of full-field PGA Tour events and any players not already eligible who are inside the top 50 of the OWGR the week prior to the tournament.
