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LIV golfer Joaquin Niemann has accepted a particular invitation to play the Masters together with Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune and Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen.
Chile’s Niemann stated after his victory within the LIV season-opener in Mexico – the place he shot a first-round 59 – that he hoped to have an opportunity to contend in Majors despite the fact that his world rating has dropped as a result of LIV occasions don’t carry world rating factors.
He was already certified for The Open because of his victory within the Australian Open in December, and Masters officers cited that Australian triumph in asserting that they had prolonged an invite to the 25-year-old to play in a fifth Masters.
“The Masters Match has a long-standing custom of inviting main worldwide gamers who will not be in any other case certified,” Masters chairman Fred Ridley stated in a press release.
“At present’s announcement represents the match’s continued dedication in the direction of creating curiosity within the sport of golf internationally.”
Niemann, who first performed The Masters in 2018 as the highest ranked newbie on the planet, has made the lower in three of 4 Masters appearances.
He has top-five finishes in every of his three European Tour begins this season, together with his playoff win within the Australian Open.
With LIV golfers nonetheless banned from the PGA Tour Niemann has used European Tour occasions to attempt to bolster his rating, which now stands at 81st – exterior the highest 50 that can mechanically qualify for The Masters.
Hisatsune (21) is ranked 78th. He spent a yr on the Japan Golf Tour earlier than qualifying for the European Tour, the place he received the French Open and completed excessive sufficient within the Race to Dubai to earn a spot on the PGA Tour.
He’s the primary Japanese participant to be named the European Tour’s Rookie of the 12 months.
Olesen is an eight-time winner on the European Tour. He has performed in three earlier Masters, however this might be his first since he was cleared in December 2021 of expenses of sexually assaulting a girl on a transatlantic flight.
A London courtroom cleared him of expenses of shoving an airline employee, touching a girl’s breast and urinating on one other passenger’s seat, actions he stated he couldn’t keep in mind after taking sleeping remedy with alcohol.
The three invites deliver the sector to 83 gamers. Golfers can nonetheless qualify by successful one of many seven remaining PGA Tour occasions earlier than The Masters, which might be held from 11-14 April.
The highest 50 on the planet golf rankings as of 1 April can even qualify.
© Agence France-Presse
Photograph: Manuel Velasquez/Getty Pictures
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