Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley explains why national open winners are integral to Masters competition

An invitation to the 2026 Masters is on the line this week in Dubai as amateurs compete in the 2025 Asia Pacific Amateur Championship at Emirates Golf Club. An avenue through which players can access the Masters and The Open through victory, the tournament has been a critical cog in showcasing international talent in both major championship.

That is why it was no surprise when Augusta National Golf Club and the R&A released a joint statement in August announcing an alignment of their invitation criteria centered around national opens. Inviting the winners of the Scottish Open, Spanish Open, Japan Open, Hong Kong Open, Australian Open and South African Open into their majors, the parties heightened the importance of already historic tournaments. 

Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley discussed the importance of this change while speaking ahead of the Asia Pacific Amateur.

"These six opens [are] historical championships around the world that we and the R&A recognized in a joint statement recently," Ridley said. "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."

Some invitations have already been awarded to England's Marco Penge, winner of the Spanish Open, and Japan's Naoyuki Kataoka, who reigned at the Japan Open. Kataoka entered the week of his win at No. 500 in the Official World Golf Rankings

 Similar to wins during the PGA Tour's regular season, these triumphs come with a one-year invitation into the championships.

"Golf is a global game, and I think we always want to recognize that," Ridley said. "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. I know that in Japan recently that was the case. I think it will be the case in all these countries. So we are very excited about that change in our qualifications."

Following this week's tournament in Dubai, the next invitation will be awarded when the Hong Kong Open concludes next week. This is the penultimate national open on the invitation criteria that will take place in 2025 as the Australian Open is set for the beginning of December, while the South African Open will take place in March 2026, one month before the Masters.

"These are really some historical championships that have been around for quite some time and have meant a lot in their countries," Ridley said. "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."