Golf is evolving! Different tours are talking about making it global. For instance, LIV goes all around the world hosting tournaments, DPWT does something same. It held one of the biggest events (DPWIC) that India has seen. Majors want to do the same, but in their own way! By opening doorways for more new international talent to enter the coveted tournaments. The Masters and The Open will now award invitations to the winners of six national open championships. Speaking about this bold new step, Ridley’s vision seems clear.

“These six opens are historical championships around the world that we and the R&A recognised in a joint statement recently…These are really some historical championships that have been around for quite some time and have meant a lot in their countries,” Ridely said ahead of the Asia Pacific Championship last week.

For the first time, the winner of this week’s Link Hong Kong Open will earn an automatic spot in the 2026 Masters. This move is going to be historic for the Asian Tour. The other 5 events that are part of this Global Inclusivity are the Genesis Scottish Open, Open de España, Japan Open, ISPS Handa Australian Open, and the Investec South African Open Championship.

“International competition has always been a big part of the Masters Tournament. That representation internationally has grown over the years to where it’s pretty much 50/50, and maybe even a few more international players. So, we thought it was appropriate to sort of carry on that tradition and the culture that we’ve established at the Masters.”

Yeah, the majority of winners since 1934 have been American, but not all. So far, there have been 64 editions won by American golfers and 25 non-American. Some recent international champions are from Spain (Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia), Northern Ireland (Rory McIlroy), and Japan (Hideki Matsuyama). It only made sense to make competition more international.

The included events are indeed some of the most historic Opens. The South African Open and the Australian Open are among the five oldest national championships in world golf, with their inception dating back to the early 1900s (1903 and 1904, respectively). The Spanish Open, on the other hand, has been played continuously since 1912 and was one of the original European Tour events when the Tour was launched in 1972. And this week’s Hong Kong Open is the country’s oldest professional sporting event. In practice, the results of this change are already being witnessed.

England’s Marco Penge secured his 2026 Masters and Open Championship debuts after winning the 2025 Spanish Open. This was his third DP World Tour win of the season. On the other hand, Japan’s Naoyuki Kataoka, who was ranked 500, earned his first major invitation through this new route after winning the Japan Open.

“There are some great golfers that have come from a number of those countries, and we just felt that those six championships were appropriate to award invitations to the Masters,” Ridley further added.

This change will mark one of the most concrete institutional steps yet. The Masters field, which Americans once dominated, will now be evenly split between domestic and international players. This was evident even this year, when competitors represented 27 nations and territories, breaking the previous record of 25. Many can argue that these changes have been made possible due to Rory McIlroy‘s influence. But this framework does come with trade-offs.

To maintain Augusta’s preferred field size of under 100 players, automatic invitations for PGA Tour fall-season winners have been removed. Earlier, these were the only pathways that gave an entry to players to the major tournament, at times to players even ranked outside the top 100. For instance, between 2013 and 2024, nearly 30% of fall winners came from outside that ranking threshold. But now, the pathway is excluded.

This decision is also coming at a time when the R&A made significant changes to LIV’s players’ exemption to the majors. These changes will be felt significantly in the coming year, as other majors are being made part of this integration.

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Not just Augusta, The Open has broadened its door, too

This Master qualification overhaul aligns seamlessly with the R&A’s long-standing Open Qualifying Series. This initiative has been in place since 2013 and has broadened access to the Open Championship for players across continents. But now, it will open its door for these same six National Opens as well.

For the 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, the winners of the Hong Kong, Spain, Japan, New Zealand, and Argentina Opens will each earn a direct spot. At the same time, the Australian Open, South African Open, Scottish Open, and the Canadian Open will award three spots to the leading finishers.

“Golf is a global game, and I think we always want to recognize that. We felt that not only were we living true to our values, but we also were hopefully maybe just as this championship has inspired young amateurs around the Asia-Pacific region, we hope that that incentive of awarding the winners an invitation, a spot in the Masters Tournament as well as The Open Championship, would also generate additional interest in those countries,” said Ridley.

It remains to be seen how successful this pathway proves to be.