English putts his way back to Augusta

Native Georgian raises the Masters field to 90; Stray Shots: Call me 'maybe'

Harris English and his 1½-year-old daughter, Emilia, at Torrey Pines (Jennifer Perez/PGA Tour via Getty Images)

He might not be the sexiest name on tour, but Harris English is a nice late addition to the 2025 Masters field.

Now a five-time PGA Tour winner and with a Ryder Cup (2021) already on his résumé, English is the kind of golfer you expect to see tee it up in all the majors. He’s only missed two major starts since COVID, but other than three quality top-10s in U.S. Opens (fourth in 2020 at Winged Foot; third in 2021 at Torrey Pines; and T8 in 2023 at LACC) he hasn’t had a lot of success on the biggest stages.

But that’s something that could still change for the 35-year-old. Coolly playing the final 13 holes in difficult conditions at 1-under par at Torrey Pines to win the Farmers Insurance Open by one shot, English displayed the kind of poise and performance around the greens that should thrive in majors.

“You’re going to miss fairways, miss greens, but you’ve got to miss it in the right spot,” Harris said of his veteran savvy on Torrey’s South course that helped him deftly navigate its perils. “I kind of leaned on my putter. I had that thing for a long time and started putting with it my senior year of college in 2011. … I felt like my speed was really dialed in and every putt was going in at the right speed. It’s nice when you hit it to 40 or 50 feet a few holes and you can get it up there to tap-in distance. That really won me the golf tournament.”

English said he’s made his peace with who he is and how he plays golf, which helped him snap out of a relative rut and pick up his first trophy since his career-best two-win season in 2021 (and since hip surgery in 2022).

“I mean, we all want to be so perfect out here and I’m obsessed with this game, I'm obsessed with getting better,” he said of the hard work he’s put in with swing coach Justin Parsons. “It’s easy to fall in a little bit of a trap of what your swing looks like, what the TrackMan numbers say and what on a video it should look like and perform (like). So when you kind of get in those ruts, you kind of lose your competitiveness, you lose the fun in shaping shots and hitting different shots.

“That’s kind of what we’ve worked on last week. I spent a lot of the offseason working on some technique stuff. (Justin) said it was like time to get back in playing, getting back into having fun on the range like I was a kid back where I grew up was hitting different shots, curving it around trees. That’s kind of how I grew up playing and just to have fun with it. Whatever I see, get up there and hit it instead of trying to be so perfect.”

Maybe that will translate better when he returns to Augusta National. The life-long Georgian — born in Valdosta, schooled in Athens and resident in Sea Island — English has made the last four cuts in his five career Masters since debuting in 2014. But he’s yet to finish top-20 there (T21 in 2022 and T22 last year are his best finishes).

During the CBS telecast of the Farmers, Jim Nantz predicted this could be the start of a “monster season” by English, forecasting a return to the Ryder Cup team. Doesn’t hurt that English gets another crack at the Torrey Pines course he thrives on in just a three weeks when the tour returns there to play the signature Genesis Invitational that was displaced from Riviera by the wildfires that ravaged Pacific Palisades.

We’ll see if Nantz’ intuition proves true, but just winning and getting back into the now 90-player Masters field is a big step toward posting a big season. English is the seventh former Georgia Bulldog to qualify for the 2025 Masters, joining Bubba Watson, Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Sepp Straka, Chris Kirk and Davis Thompson in the field.

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2025 Masters Field

Through Jan. 27, 2025

Here’s how the 90 players currently qualified to play in the 2025 Masters got into the field

# first-timers (18); * amateurs (5); Americans (45); Internationals (45); Seniors (6)

CATEGORY 1 (20 players)

Masters Tournament Champions (Lifetime)

Angel Cabrera (1) – Argentina

Fred Couples (1)

Sergio Garcia (1) – Spain

Dustin Johnson (1)

Zach Johnson (1)

Bernhard Langer (1) – Germany

Hideki Matsuyama (1, 17, 18, 19) – Japan

Phil Mickelson (1, 4)

Jose Maria Olazabal (1) – Spain

Jon Rahm (1, 2, 19) – Spain

Patrick Reed (1, 13)

Scottie Scheffler (1, 5, 6, 13, 17, 18, 19)

Charl Schwartzel (1) – South Africa

Adam Scott (1, 18, 19) – Australia

Vijay Singh (1) – Fiji

Jordan Spieth (1)

Bubba Watson (1)

Mike Weir (1) – Canada

Danny Willett (1) – England

Tiger Woods (1)

CATEGORY 2 (3 players)

U.S. Open champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)

Wyndham Clark (2, 18, 19) – through 2028

Bryson DeChambeau (2, 13, 19) – through 2029

Matthew Fitzpatrick (2, 19) – England – through 2027

CATEGORY 3 (4 players)

British Open Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)

Brian Harman (3, 19) – through 2028

Collin Morikawa (3, 4, 13, 18, 19) – through 2026

Xander Schauffele (3, 4, 13, 18, 19) – through 2029

Cameron Smith (3, 5) – Australia – through 2027

CATEGORY 4 (2 players)

PGA Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)

Brooks Koepka (4) – through 2028

Justin Thomas (4, 18, 19) – through 2027

CATEGORY 5 (0 players)

The Players Championship Winners (3 years)

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CATEGORY 6 (0 players)

Current Olympic Gold Medalist (for 2025)

—

CATEGORY 7 A&B (2 players)

Current U.S. Amateur champion (A, Honorary, non-competing after 1 year) and runner-up (B)

#*Jose Luis Ballester (7) – Spain

#*Noah Kent (7)

CATEGORY 8 (0 players)

Current British Amateur Champion (Honorary, non-competing after 1 year)

Jacob Skov Olesen (Denmark) forfeited his spot by turning professional

CATEGORY 9 (0 players)

Current Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion

Wenyi Ding (China) forfeited his spot by turning professional

CATEGORY 10 (1 player)

Current Latin America Amateur Champion

#*Justin Hastings (10) – Cayman Islands

CATEGORY 11 (1 player)

Current U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion

#*Evan Beck (11)

CATEGORY 12 (1 player)

Current NCAA Individual Champion

#*Hiroshi Tai (12) – Singapore

CATEGORY 13 (9 players)

First 12 players (including ties) in previous year’s Masters

Ludvig Åberg (13, 18, 19) – Sweden

Cam Davis (13, 17) – Australia

Tommy Fleetwood (13, 18, 19) – England

Tyrrell Hatton (13, 19) – England

Max Homa (13, 19)

Mattieu Pavon (13, 18, 19) – France

Adam Schenk (13)

Cameron Young (13, 19)

Will Zalatoris (13)

CATEGORY 14 (3 players)

First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s U.S. Open

Patrick Cantlay (14, 18, 19)

Tony Finau (14, 18, 19)

Rory McIlroy (14, 17, 18, 19) – Northern Ireland

CATEGORY 15 (3 players)

First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s British Open

Billy Horschel (15, 18, 19)

#Thriston Lawrence (15, 19) – South Africa

Justin Rose (15, 19) – England

CATEGORY 16 (2 players)

First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s PGA Championship

#Thomas Detry (16) – Belgium

Viktor Hovland (16, 18, 19) – Norway

CATEGORY 17 (17 players)

Winners of non-opposite PGA Tour events from previous Masters to current Masters

Keegan Bradley (17, 18, 19)

#Rafael Campos (17) — Puerto Rico

#Nico Echavarria (17) — Colombia

Austin Eckroat (17, 19)

Harris English (17)

Patton Kizzire (17)

Robert MacIntyre (17, 18, 19) – Scotland

#Matt McCarty (17, 19)

#Maverick McNealy (17, 19)

#Taylor Pendrith (17, 18, 19) – Canada

J.T. Poston (17, 19)

#Aaron Rai (17, 18, 19) – England

#Davis Riley (17)

Nick Taylor (17) – Canada

#Davis Thompson (17, 19)

Jhonattan Vegas (17) – Venezuela

#Kevin Yu (17) – Taiwan

CATEGORY 18 (11 players)

Eligible qualifiers for previous year’s season-ending Tour Championship

Byeong Hun (Ben) An (18, 19) – South Korea

Christiaan Bezuidenhout (18) – South Africa

Akshay Bhatia (18, 19)

Sam Burns (18, 19)

Russell Henley (18, 19)

Tom Hoge (18)

Sungjae Im (18, 19) – South Korea

Chris Kirk (18)

Shane Lowry (18, 19) – Ireland

Sepp Straka (18, 19) – Austria

Sahith Theegala (18, 19)

CATEGORY 19 (9 players)

Top 50 on final Official World Golf Ranking for previous calendar year

Corey Conners (19) – Canada

Jason Day (19) – Australia

Nick Dunlap (19)

Lucas Glover (19)

#Max Greyserman (19)

#Rasmus Højgaard (19) – Denmark

Tom Kim (19) – South Korea

Min Woo Lee (19) – Australia

Denny McCarthy (19)

CATEGORY 20 (TBD)

Top 50 on Official World Golf Ranking published week prior to current Masters

TBD

SPECIAL EXEMPTION (2 players)

The Masters Committee, at its discretion, also invites international players otherwise not qualified

Nicolai Højgaard – Denmark

Joaquin Niemann – Chile

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Stray Shots: I do mean maybe

By Peter Kaufman

With apologies to The Chantels’ doo-wop hit from 1958, maybe we have been looking at the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and declining television ratings all wrong.

Maybe … a deal between the tour and the PIF that owns LIV won’t be a panacea for the game of golf.

Maybe … we are wrong to think that LIV has so many players the public needs to see play on tour on a regular basis, as opposed to just four times a year at the majors.

Maybe … there is a reason beyond the format that almost nobody watches LIV.

Maybe … Bryson DeChambeau is the only LIV player worth watching at this juncture. He moves the needle.

Maybe … only Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler (and TGL’s Tiger Woods) are the only others who move the needle.

Maybe … LIV’s Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Cam Smith just don’t matter as much any more.

Maybe … Koepka is just an old 34-year-old. In 2023 he won the PGA Championship (his fifth major) and was T2 at the Masters, but in 2024 all he mustered was a pair of T26s, T43 and T45 in the four majors.

Maybe … Rahm is in a relative slump or his new-found “generational” wealth has permanently dulled his sword. In 2023 he had a win, T2 and three top-10s in majors, but in 2024 after joining LIV he had but a T7, T45, MC and DNP (foot infection).

Maybe … DJ is gone for good in terms of competitive fire. He’s missed six major cuts since his Masters win in 2020, including three of the last five since his T10 at the 2023 U.S. Open.

Maybe … Patrick Reed is also an old 34. He’s had just one top-10 major finish (T4 at the 2023 Masters) since joining LIV and failed to even qualify for last year’s U.S. or British Opens.

Maybe … Cameron Smith is the same age as Bryson (31) and has three major top-10s since his Open win at St. Andrews before leaving for LIV, but he seems content just to fish and brandish his otherworldly short-game on occasion.

Maybe … there is is a combo entertainment value and golf appeal with Tyrrell Hatton in terms of skill and temperament, but is he really missed on the PGA Tour?

Maybe … the decline in viewership reflects a PGA Tour product that is both listing in the water and trying to be something it’s not. It’s tough to have heroes without villains, and LIV took all the good villains. The only top-echelon LIV villain we see is DeChambeau, and even he has morphed into Mr. Nice Guy. (If Koepka proves me wrong and still has big-tourney game, he has the potential to be the best villain golf needs as a foil to the tour’s heroes.

Maybe … with so few needle-movers, golf was seduced by Saudi silly-money into thinking it was a heck of a lot more valuable and important than it really is. It’s not the NFL, NBA or even Major League Baseball. It’s just a wonderful niche sport with the highest-end viewer demographics per eyeball.

Maybe … golf is overexposed.

Maybe … it takes too long because of slow play to satisfy the modern short attention span.

Maybe … it has too many tour events, becoming oversaturated like boxing in the 1950s on TV. Perhaps halving the number of non-majors while add a couple outside-the-box events (coed or something else) so maybe less becomes more.

Maybe … TGL actually works and gets improved ratings (though I remain skeptical). To be very clear, the TGL audience is not likely going to be traditional golfers. More likely it’s the same crowd that watches reality game shows and is thus more likely to help cable TV than it is the (traditional) world of golf. (Though Kevin Kisner and Keegan Bradley might have futures on Hollywood Squares.)

Maybe … the promised rapprochement between PIF and the PGA Tour becomes just an afterthought and maybe no one will really care if the players can move and mingle interchangeably between the tours.

Maybe … someone can figure out how make the game of professional golf more appealing to more people.

Maybe … or maybe not.