Previewing the 10 LIV Golf Players in The Masters - Part One

Ten LIV Golf players will tee it up at Augusta National for The Masters this week. While this number is the lowest in terms of amount of LIV Golf players in the field, it’s artificially lowered by the departures of Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed, and then the withdrawal of Phil Mickelson due to personal issues. In 2025 it was 12 players and in 2024 it was 13.

Despite the number of participants being roughly on par with the prior two years, there are still some notable exclusions. The Masters has always sought to include the game’s best international players, though this year the field will be without the best player on LIV Golf in 2025, Chilean Joaquin Niemann. This year’s field will be without one of the game’s young stars and winner of the BMW Australian PGA Championship, Spaniard David Puig, and the field will be without a (comfortably) top 50 player in the world, Belgian Thomas Detry. And all of that, regardless of where you stand on LIV Golf’s place in the ecosystem, is unfortunate.

Moving on from that, let’s do a deep dive into the players that are in the field, because independent of any issues with the invitation list, this week is one of the most exciting, compelling, and interesting weeks that professional golf has to offer. One week from now, one player will have a completely different legacy than they showed up with.

Bubba is making his 18th start in The Masters and is one of only 18 players to win the green jacket more than once. His first came in a dramatic playoff win over Louis Oosthuizen in 2012, and his second in 2014 with a three shot victory over Jonas Blixt and Jordan Spieth. In 17 starts to date he has made the cut 14 times, finished inside the top 10 three times, and missed the cut three times.

In 2012, Bubba would make birdies on 13, 14, 15, and 16, and then close with back-to-back pars to finish at -10, alongside Louis Oosthuizen. Louis, the same day, famously made an albatross on the second hole.

The two would head to a playoff and both would miss 15-20 foot birdie putts on the 18th. The second playoff hole the two would play would be hole 10, where Bubba would pull his tee shot right, deep into the pine-straw. From there, he’d hit one of the most iconic shots in Masters history that would eventually lead to his first of two green jackets.

The start to 2026 hasn’t been what Bubba Watson would have envisioned, with his best finish through 5 events being a tie for 28th place in Singapore. He turned 47 in the offseason so the expectations aren’t terribly high, but he showed last season that he still has some magic left and can still hang with the best players in the world when his game is clicking. He had a handful of top 10 finishes last season including a great performance in the UK where only Joaquin Niemann beat him.

In that event he had an unbelievable 6-hole stretch where he was 8 under par, hit driver off the deck twice, and made two eagles.

So there’s no question that he’s got the ability to go low and compete with anybody, and there’s obviously a level of comfort with Bubba at ANGC. He had a very similar start to his year in 2025 and finished T14 at The Masters, so I would not be at all shocked to see him make the cut again and hang around in the middle of the pack. If he gets hot he could sneak into the top 20 or better.

Bubba ends up on the good side of the weather with an easy late/early tee time. A couple steady, not flashy rounds have him comfortably inside the cut line. Another early-ish Saturday tee time allows Bubba to continue his steady play, with another round a couple of shots under par. He enters the final round inside the top 20, but with nobody really talking about him winning as a possibility. As the leaders struggle in the latter parts of the front-nine, Bubba gets hot and goes on a tear. He makes several birdies and an eagle on the back-nine and before anyone knows what happened, he’s putting on the green jacket for the third time. This time, as Rory pulls it over his shoulders, Bubba whispers into his ear “Go Goats”.

The South African who turned 41 last year will be making his 17th start at The Masters this year. His first came in 2010 where he finished in 30th place. His best was just one year later where in the final round he birdied 15, 16, 17, and 18 to claim a two shot victory over Adam Scott and Jason Day. His win came exactly 50 years after fellow South African Gary Player became the first international player to win the event. In 16 starts to date, Charl has missed the cut 5 times, and has finished inside the top 10 just three times.

The final round of The Masters in 2011 was an unforgettable one. Rory McIlroy, then just 21 years old, entered the final round with a four shot lead. Shortly after making the turn, he’d find trouble on the 10th and wasn’t able to recover. Throughout the final round, eight different players held a share of the lead. Schwartzel would come out hot and chip in for birdie on the first, then hole out for eagle from the fairway on the third. Later he would become the first player to birdie 15, 16, 17, and 18 in the final round en route to his victory.

Charl Schwartzel has played six events this year, five on LIV and then the South African Championship on the DP World Tour. His best finish this year was his tie for 17th in Adelaide. His best performance, though, was at LIV Golf South Africa where he finished T24. That week was the end of a three week stretch with a lot of travel where Charl was battling a back injury that required several hours of pre-round therapy each day. It’s unclear if that injury will hold him back at Augusta, but it was tremendously impressive for him to conjure a strong performance in that environment when considering what the event meant to him, his team, and the game.

Charl has made the cut in four of his last five Masters appearances. The back injury he was dealing with just a couple of weeks ago in South Africa will definitely be a factor this year, at the very least mentally. I think Charl will be happy to make the weekend this year. He hasn’t found a ton of good form just yet, but has had some flashes of strong play that could see him sneaking into the top 25 if things come together this week.

After hovering around the cut line for the first two rounds, Schwartzel makes the weekend. His third round starts hot as he birdies the first and eagles the second. He makes another eagle on the 8th and will add four birdies on the second-nine. His 63 puts him right in the mix heading into the final round. The leaders let the pressure of the moment get the best of them, and Schwartzel follows up his brilliant 63 with a 68 and earns his second Masters triumph. Another incredible moment for South African sport.

After winning the Hong Kong Open on the Asian Tour in November, Tom McKibbin earned his first invitation to The Masters.

Of the Invitation, Tom said:

Tom McKibbin earned promotion from the DP World Tour to the PGA Tour based on his Race to Dubai ranking at the end of the 2024 season. Given his talent he possesses and the potential everyone saw in him, this made him an attractive target for Jon Rahm. McKibbin would opt out of the PGA Tour promotion and join Rahm’s Legion XIII GC for the 2025 season.

At just 23 years old Tom has won on both the Asian Tour and the DP World Tour. While 2026 will be his first appearance at The Masters, it will be his 5th major championship start. His best finish came at the 2024 US Open where tied for 41st, though he has only missed one cut in his previous four starts.

It doesn’t seem unfair to say that 2026 hasn’t yet lived up to expectation for Tom. He’s played 7 events thus far (5 LIV, 2 DPWT) and finished inside the top 20 only two times. He’s been inconsistent on the greens and his approach play has been lacking thus far. His best finish of the year was at the opening LIV event of the season in Riyadh, where he finished T17.

2026 Masters Expectations:

McKibbin has all of the ability and talent needed to compete against the best in the world. When he’s playing well, his game will fit Augusta National well. He’s got plenty of distance off the tee and is well-rounded through the bag. With it being his first start there, he won’t bring a lot of the course knowledge that his competitors have. If his game is firing on all cylinders this week, I think it could be a real breakout performance for him where he surprises everyone and gets himself right in the mix. If the struggles that we’ve seen early in the season continue this week, he might find himself missing in some tough spots and having some nervy putts for par and bogey that could see him fall below the cut line.

The big question mark for Tom McKibbin this week is the flat stick. He’s had a number of events where that was the primary thing holding him back from competing. He uses his time ahead of The Masters wisely, and dials in the flat stick, making everything in sight. His renewed confidence with the putter frees up the rest of his game and he finds himself in the final pairing come Sunday and as his putter stays hot, he runs away with it, eventually winning by three strokes and becoming the first debutant winner since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.

After finishing T4 at last year’s U.S. Open Carlos Ortiz earned his invitation to The Masters for the second time in his career. Carlos brings a more well-rounded game this time around than he had the last, though his strengths still give him the opportunity to get himself in the mix.

Carlos’ only appearance at the Masters was in 2021, where he got off to a very rough start. He shot 10-over par in the first round but showed some heart during his second round. He made three birdies on the back nine to come home in 33. It took much longer than he would have liked to get things going, but ultimately he looked much more comfortable, and that comfort should serve him well this year.

2026 Form:

Carlos has played five events in 2026 and has already finished inside the top 10 twice. He finished 6th in Hong Kong, and then 8th in South Africa two weeks later. His play in South Africa should give some confidence to Torque GC fans, as he gained strokes on the field in every category.

No doubt Carlos will be as motivated as any to play well this week. He knows the level of golf that he’s capable of playing, and knows if he does it he can compete with anybody in the world. Oftentimes Carlos will struggle adapting to quick greens, which ANGC is known for. We saw this last year in Virginia and then at the US Open. Despite great finishes in both, it was hit putter that held him back from the podium, or even winning. If he’s able to dial in the green speeds and get some comfort early in the week with the slopes, he could easily find himself right in the mix come the weekend. His approach play is very strong, some of the best in the world. That will be a huge tool for him this week. There’s no question that Carlos will improve on his first appearance at The Masters, the only question is how much.

The weather forecast was (shockingly) incorrect. Rain slows down, but never halts play for nearly the entire event. This sets up perfectly for Ortiz. The greens, the one thing that was going to really challenge him this week, has been tamed by the rain. His elite approach play in the first three carries him into the final group. The rain subsides midway through the final round. As things start to firm up Ortiz continues to play well as the others in contention struggle to adapt to the changing greens speeds. It was exactly what Carlos had been practicing for all year. He becomes the 2026 Masters Champion and Latin American golf has one of the most memorable two week spans of all time.