Rory McIlroy will be stepping onto Augusta National as the defending champion for the very first time in 2026. And he will face a tough battle against the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm & Co. However, the field will also have some surprising names who have also received invites. We’re here to look at five such names who are confirmed to appear at Augusta National in 2026.

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Alex Norén

Alex Noren didn’t have an impressive run on the PGA Tour this season. He only appeared in eleven events and made seven cuts. Although he still managed to impress in a couple of them, he got two top-10 finishes throughout the year. However, that wasn’t nearly enough to get a top-30 finish in the FedEx Cup standings for the season. However, the Swedish star shone in Europe.

He managed to win two events in a span of a month. First, Noren captured the 2025 Betfred British Masters in August. Then he went on to beat Viktor Hovland & Co. in the BMW PGA Championship. To end the year, he finished second in the Hero World Challenge. He pushed his OWGR from 72nd at the beginning of 2025 to 11th at the end of December. His hard work paid off as he not only received a PGA Tour membership for 2026 but also booked a place in the Masters field.

Rasmus Hojgaard

Rasmus Hojgaard didn’t win anything on the PGA Tour in 2025 but came close once when he finished third in the Sanderson Farms Championship. He finished the FedEx Cup season in 85th position but remained consistent in the DP World Tour. Hojgaard got two runner-up finishes in the Danish Golf Championship and the Omega European Masters. He also finished in 7th spot in the 2025 DP World Tour Championship. That was enough for him to retain the 40th OWGR position in the world. It will also be enough to help him qualify for the 2026 Masters Tournament.

Max Greyserman

It was challenging for Max Greyserman to find consistency in 2025. After every good performance, he needed at least four events to deliver another top-of-the-table finish. Even then, the 30-year-old still managed to nearly win at Yokohama Country Club. Although his runner-up finish in the Baycurrent Classic wasn’t enough to even push him into the top 50 of the FedEx Cup Fall standings, thanks to a few good performances and many decent runs throughout the season, Greyserman was able to maintain his OWGR ranking.

He went from 37th at the beginning of 2025 to 31st in December. As the year comes to an end, he will be in the right position to make it into the top 50 at the end of the year and qualify for the 2026 Masters Tournament.

Aaron Rai

In his fourth full season on the PGA Tour, Aaron Rai would have hoped he could replicate the success he achieved in 2024. He nearly did so as he came close to successfully defending his Wyndham Championship title but finished at T5 in the end, which ended up being his second top-10 finish of the season.

However, Rai has been quite consistent throughout the season. In the 17 cuts he made, he had 10 top-25 finishes. Across the ocean in the DP World Tour, Rai also got a T3 finish in the 2025 BMW PGA Championship and a win in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. He’s been quite busy this season, and his efforts have been rewarded on the OWGR leaderboard, as he will end the year with a 23rd-place finish. That was enough for him to book a ticket to Magnolia Lane.

Kristoffer Reitan

Kristoffer Reitan didn’t make a single PGA Tour appearance in 2025. However, he has been in spectacular form on the DP World Tour. He lost the 2025 Hainan Classic to Marco Penge by three strokes, finishing tied for second. He was also tied for the runner-up position in the Austrian Alpine Open by two strokes. In between these events, Reitan managed to win the Soudal Open.

Throughout the season, the Norwegian pro also managed to get five more top-6 finishes. His incredible consistency helped him finish 8th in the Race to Dubai leaderboard for 2025. He has also already kicked off the 2026 season with a win in the Nedbank Golf Challenge. That has helped him rise to his career-best OWGR rank of 31. With the year coming to a close, Kristoffer Reitan is comfortably sitting inside the top 50 in the world rankings and will be confirmed for the Augusta National field in 2026.