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Golf Monthly
Golf Monthly
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Elliott Heath

9 Big Names Set To Miss The 2025 Masters

Four PGA Tour golfers and a Masters flag.

There is a long list of ways to qualify for The Masters but time is running out for a number of notable players ahead of this year's tournament in April.

The Masters field is stacked with the majority of the world's best golfers who have made it in via a number of different routes. The most obvious one is past Green Jacket winners but there's also Major champions from the last five years, the world's top 50 players and PGA Tour winners from the past year, as well as five amateur golfers.

There's still six weeks left to make it in but as things stand, which big names and notable players are not yet in the 2025 Masters?

Take a look at our list below...

Rickie Fowler

Fowler needs to find form over the next six weeks to make a return to Augusta (Image credit: Getty Images)

Fowler dropped out of the world's top 50 last year after going winless following his return to form in 2023, where he won the Rocket Mortgage Classic, contended at the US Open and made the US Ryder Cup team.

The six-time PGA Tour winner, who was 2nd at the 2018 Masters, played at Augusta last year after missing the event in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

He looks set to miss again unless he can win on the PGA Tour soon or find some form to make the world's top 50 by the last week of March. Rickie currently ranks 92nd in the world so will be hoping for some good results.

Luke Clanton

Clanton has two runners-up finishes on the PGA Tour in the past year (Image credit: Getty Images)

The World No.1 amateur surprisingly isn't one of the five non-professionals in the field this year.

Clanton hasn't automatically qualified but he does have a couple of PGA Tour starts coming up (Cognizant Classic and Valspar Championship) so it isn't totally out of the question. If he can win one of those - he has already finished 2nd twice on tour - or get into the world's top 50 then he'll punch his ticket to Augusta.

The FSU star, who recently won his fifth college title, is 93rd in the world so still has a small chance of being able to compete for the Silver Cup, and Green Jacket.

Gary Woodland

Woodland's Masters exemption from his 2019 US Open win has now expired (Image credit: Getty Images)

Woodland is currently on-course to miss his first Masters since 2017 with his five-year exemption from winning the 2019 US Open now up.

He's played in every Major since the 2016 Open, which is 33 in a row, but that streak could be ending in April.

The current World No.169 has very understandably struggled with his game in recent times following his surgery last year to remove a lesion from his brain. What a story it will be when he returns to the winner's circle.

Adrian Meronk

Meronk is currently 1st in the LIV Golf individual standings after winning under the lights in Riyadh (Image credit: Getty Images)

The Pole played in the 2023 and 2024 Masters but has not booked his spot for this year due to LIV Golf's lack of world ranking points.

He got his season off to the perfect start with his first LIV title in Riyadh and currently sits top of the standings - which will get him into the US Open and The Open if he can maintain it - but it is not good enough for Augusta with no current LIV pathway into The Masters.

Matt Wallace

Wallace won his fifth DP World Tour title at the European Masters last year (Image credit: Getty Images)

Wallace is desperate to make his Ryder Cup debut this year but he currently won't be able to impress Luke Donald with a good Masters performance as things stand.

The Englishman, who won the Masters Par 3 Contest in 2019, hasn't made the field for Augusta since 2021. He is currently 72nd in the world so a good run of form in the next six weeks can still get him a drive down Magnolia Lane.

Daniel Berger

Berger could still make it into the field via his world ranking if he keeps up his impressive form (Image credit: Getty Images)

Berger is back out on the PGA Tour after a long period away from the game due to injury, and he could well make his first Masters appearance since 2022 this year - although he isn't quite in the field just yet.

The Floridian, who has four PGA Tour wins, is on the cusp of making it in via the world rankings. He currently sits in 53rd after finishing T2nd at the RSM Classic in November as well as the WM Phoenix Open earlier this month.

He was also an impressive 12th-place at the Genesis Invitational last week as he continues his return to form.

Louis Oosthuizen

Oosthuizen finished 6th in the LIV Golf standings last year but looks set to miss his second consecutive Masters (Image credit: Getty Images)

Oosthuizen came so close to joining his good friend Charl Schwartzel as a Green Jacket winner in 2012 where he lost to Bubba Watson, and THAT hooked gap wedge out of the trees on 10, in a playoff.

The South African missed his first Masters since 2009 last year and he hasn't been able to make his way back this year due to LIV Golf's lack of world ranking points.

Away from LIV Golf, where he finished 6th in the 2024 standings, he played in six OWGR-sanctioned tournaments last year, with a runner-up and 3rd-place on the Asian Tour his best results. He is currently ranked 230th in the world.

David Puig

Two-time Asian Tour winner Puig played in three of the four Majors last year, but is yet to make his Masters debut (Image credit: Getty Images)

The talented Spaniard has managed to make his way into four Majors over the past two seasons thanks to his form on the Asian Tour and at qualifying events.

However, one Major that has eluded him is The Masters and that looks set to continue this year. The LIV Golfer is an impressive 83rd in the world rankings but he does not have many more opportunities to earn extra points before Augusta.

He looks set to have a very bright career with surely plenty of Masters appearances ahead of him.

Neal Shipley

Shipley won last year's Silver Cup and is now competing on the Korn Ferry Tour (Image credit: Getty Images)

Shipley made history last year in joining a select few golfers to win both the Masters Silver Cup and US Open Silver Medal.

The Ohio State University alumnus is now a professional but he has missed three of four cuts on the Korn Ferry Tour this year so far.

He looks set to make his way up to the PGA Tour and into the Majors over the coming years as he gains more experience in the paid ranks.

Other notables not yet in this year's Masters field...

  • Stephan Jaeger
  • Laurie Canter
  • Eric Cole
  • Adam Hadwin
  • Patrick Rodgers
  • Sam Stevens
  • Taylor Moore
  • Andrew Novak
  • Thorbjorn Olesen
  • Justin Lower
  • Kurt Kitayama
  • Lee Hodges
  • Harry Hall
  • Erik Van Rooyen
  • Victor Perez
  • Jake Knapp
  • Ryan Fox
  • Keith Mitchell
  • Charley Hoffman
  • Matt Kuchar
  • Dean Burmester
  • Peter Uihlein
  • Tom McKibbin
  • Marc Leishman
  • Webb Simpson
  • Francesco Molinari
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