Fisk first to 'fall' from Masters grace
Mississippi winner doesn't get Augusta invite, but this week's Spanish Open winner will
Edith Fisk jumps into Steven Fisk’s arms after he won at Sanderson Farms (Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
It was a heartwarming scene on the 18th green last Sunday in Mississippi when up-and-coming young pro Steven Fisk caught his wife, Edith, in his arms as they tearfully celebrated his breakthrough PGA Tour victory in the Sanderson Farms Championship.
Fisk — whose father, Christopher, died earlier his year from cancer —had a lot to play for. The tour rookie was way down in 135th on the FedEx Fall points list and a long way from securing his return in 2026. Having grown up on the Rum Creek par-3 course and driving range in Stockbridge, Georgia, that his father built and operated, Fisk was motivated to make all those years honing his game on the little course pay off.
On Sunday, he took dead aim down the stretch at the Country Club of Jackson and birdied four of the last five holes to post an 8-under 64 and a one-shot victory over Garrick Higgo.
“Obviously, with the position I was in on the FedEx Cup points list I had a lot of ground to make up,” Fisk said. “We all think we’re good enough to compete out here and to win, and to come out here today and play like I did, and finally I truly know that I’m good enough to be a PGA Tour winner is really cool.”
Steven and Edith Fisk get emotional after his breakthrough PGA Tour win (Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
The victory earned Fisk more than $1 million and his tour card for the next two years.
It did not, however, earn him a place in his home state’s major next April. The Masters stopped giving out invitations to fall PGA Tour winners. Instead, it will invite winners of six national opens across the globe, starting with this week’s Open de España on the DP World Tour.
In truth, Augusta is only handing out five new exemptions to the national open winners in Spain, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and South Africa. The sixth, for some unexplained reason, is offered to the winner of last July’s Scottish Open (Chris Gotterup) which already qualifies for exemption as a regular season full-points PGA Tour event. Augusta doesn’t mess up often, but that was a whiff. Hopefully they’ll figure that out and change it next year to another worthy national open like the Irish, French or Argentine.
None of that, however, will help Fisk or this week’s winner of the Baycurrent Classic in Japan or the four remaining events on the PGA Tour’s FedEx Fall schedule in Utah, Mexico, Bermuda or Sea Island, Ga. That golden ticket is gone, and with it one of the most special perks in major championship golf.
It’s great that the Masters is spreading the joy to other golf events around the globe (even though it’s really just a back-door opportunity for LIV golfers to make it to Augusta). But it’s a shame that the fall winners had to pay the price for it.
The fall series certainly doesn’t draw many heavyweights since most of them are either gracing a few European fields or taking extended breaks before the new year starts. But to deem them too weak to be worthy of a Masters invitation is unfair. The fall events were the best illustration for the value and impact of the Masters offering invitations to “individual winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation from previous Masters to current Masters.” Without the fall, the magic of that exemption category will almost be entirely wasted — especially now that the PGA Tour is contracting.
Last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship field had a 207.04 rating in the Official World Golf Ranking. That was stronger than the DP World Tour’s Dunhill Links Championship (194.53) won by world No. 9 Robert MacIntyre over Tyrrell Hatton.
This week’s Baycurrent Classic in Japan has a field rating of 180.02, which is stronger than the Open de España (162.52) which is getting offered a Masters spot. The fall-opening Procore Championship last month won by Scottie Scheffler had a field rating (272.24) almost as strong as the flagship BMW PGA Championship (292.12) played the same week at Wentworth. Every remaining PGA Tour fall event will exceed the strength of field of any other events in the world.
Sure, the OWGR has flaws, but it’s inarguable that even these fall PGA Tour events — while not rating the same high standard as nearly all of the rest of the regular season and playoffs — are still significantly stronger than other events across global tours.
It didn’t hurt the Masters to offer spots to the fall winners. Since the Masters reinstalled its exemptions for PGA Tour winners in 2007, the field size has ranged from 87 to 99 — averaging 92.4. Since hosting 97 players in both 2014 and ’15, the average field size has dwindled to 89.2. Just 91 players teed it up last April.
“Our goal is to have, to the greatest extent possible, the best field in golf, the best players in the world,” Masters chairman Fred Ridley said. “Having said that, we never have had all the best players in the world because of the structure of our tournament. It’s an invitational. It’s limited field, it’s a small field.”
As of right now, the 2026 Masters field has 68 qualified players, behind last year’s pace that had 73 qualified at this point in the season. There’s little danger that the field will cross the acceptable limit by reaching 100 players next April.
Only four players have qualified for the 2026 Masters exclusively (so far) via winning a PGA Tour event. Two of those four – Ryan Fox and Kurt Kitayama – are currently in the OWGR top 50. That means only Brian Campbell (John Deere Classic) and Aldrich Potgieter (Rocket Classic) have gotten in exclusively for winning a qualified tour event.
That’s likely to be par for the course going forward as the PGA Tour shrinks its fully exempt ranks and field sizes going forward. Since the PGA Tour has adopted its signature event model and now has 12 limited-field, no-cut events on the calendar, there are fewer opportunities for players to win their way into the Masters. There were 17 tournaments (including majors) between the Masters and the Tour Championship where the winner earned a spot, and five of those were won by Scottie Scheffler.
The Masters always wanted people to win their way in like Willy Wonka wanted people to find golden tickets. “I can remember innumerable times where winners of tournament events would be more excited to hear that they had automatically qualified for the Masters than to receive the first-prize money check,” said former Masters chairman Billy Payne when he reinstated the automatic invitation for PGA Tour winners in 2007. “So it was an exciting component of golf that really only the Masters could offer, and we all thought it appropriate that we bring it back.”
Stories like Fisk learning the game on a pitch-and-putt his late dad built in Georgia is exactly the kind of story Augusta wanted to highlight.
“My parents built a driving range, a nine-hole par-3 course five minutes from where I grew up; I think it opened when I was 4 or 5 years old, and it’s still there, Rum Creek Golf Course,” Fisk said. “I think I had a golf course as a playground my whole childhood. All those greens were pushed up, and they were really small and … truly I think it made me into the iron player that I am today. It’s a special place, and it will always be cool that it led to this.”
If only it led to Augusta. Reaching the Masters is an achievement and it should require an achievement by players to get in. Winning a PGA Tour event — any PGA Tour event — is an achievement worthy of rewarding with an invitation.
It’s too bad Augusta National took that carrot away from them. There was enough room to keep it and offer the Masters carrot to a handful of national opens as well.
2026 Masters Field
Through Oct. 8, 2025
Here’s how the 68 players currently qualified to play in the 2026 Masters got into the field
# first-timers (10); * amateurs (5); Americans (41); Internationals (27); Seniors (7)
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, 13)
Hideki Matsuyama (1, 17, 18) – Japan
Rory McIlroy (1, 5, 18) – Northern Ireland
Phil Mickelson (1, 4)
Jose Maria Olazabal (1) – Spain
Jon Rahm (1, 2) – Spain
Patrick Reed (1, 13)
Scottie Scheffler (1, 3, 4, 5, 13, 17, 18)
Charl Schwartzel (1) – South Africa
Adam Scott (1) – Australia
Vijay Singh (1) – Fiji
Jordan Spieth (1)
Bubba Watson (1)
Mike Weir (1) – Canada
Danny Willett (1) – England
Tiger Woods (1)
CATEGORY 2 (4 players)
U.S. Open champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
Wyndham Clark (2) – through 2028
Bryson DeChambeau (2, 13) – through 2029
Matthew Fitzpatrick (2) – England – through 2027
J.J. Spaun (2, 18) – through 2030
CATEGORY 3 (4 players)
British Open Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
Brian Harman (3, 18) – through 2028
Collin Morikawa (3, 4, 18) – through 2026
Xander Schauffele (3, 4, 13) – through 2029
Cameron Smith (3) – Australia – through 2027
CATEGORY 4 (2 players)
PGA Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
Brooks Koepka (4) – through 2028
Justin Thomas (4, 18) – through 2027
CATEGORY 5 (0 players)
The Players Championship Winners (3 years)
—
CATEGORY 6 (0 players)
Current Olympic Gold Medalist (for 2029)
TBD 2028 at Riviera Country Club
CATEGORY 7 A&B (2 players)
Current U.S. Amateur champion (A, Honorary, non-competing after 1 year) and runner-up (B)
#Jackson Herrington* (7-B)
#Mason Howell* (7-A)
CATEGORY 8 (1 player)
Current British Amateur Champion (Honorary, non-competing after 1 year)
#Ethan Fang* (8)
CATEGORY 9 (1 player)
Current Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion
TBD Oct. 23-26 at Emirates (Dubai) Golf Club
CATEGORY 10 (1 player)
Current Latin America Amateur Champion
TBD Jan. 15-18, 2026 at Lima (Peru) Golf Club
CATEGORY 11 (1 player)
Current U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion
#Brandon Holtz* (11)
CATEGORY 12 (1 player)
Current NCAA Individual Champion
#Michael La Sasso* (12)
CATEGORY 13 (7 players)
First 12 players (including ties) in previous year’s Masters
Ludvig Åberg (13, 18) – Sweden
Corey Conners (13, 18) – Canada
Jason Day (13) – Australia
Harris English (13, 15, 16, 18)
Max Homa (13)
Sungjae Im (13, 18) – South Korea
Justin Rose (13, 17, 18) – England
CATEGORY 14 (5 players)
First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s U.S. Open
Tyrrell Hatton (14) -- England
Viktor Hovland (14, 18) -- Norway
Robert MacIntyre (14, 18) – Scotland
Carlos Ortiz (14) – Mexico
Cameron Young (14, 17, 18)
CATEGORY 15 (2 players)
First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s British Open
#Chris Gotterup (15, 17, 18, 19)
Haotong Li (15) – (China)
CATEGORY 16 (1 player)
First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s PGA Championship
Davis Riley (16)
CATEGORY 17 (8 players)
Individual winners from previous Masters to current Masters of non-opposite PGA Tour events that award a full FedEx Cup point allocation toward the Tour Championship
Keegan Bradley (17, 18)
Brian Campbell (17)
Tommy Fleetwood (17, 18) – England
Ryan Fox (17) – New Zealand
#Ben Griffin (17, 18)
Kurt Kitayama (17)
Aldrich Potgieter (17) – South Africa
Sepp Straka (17, 18) – Austria
CATEGORY 18 (10 players)
Eligible qualifiers for previous year’s season-ending Tour Championship
Akshay Bhatia (18)
#Jacob Bridgeman (18)
Sam Burns (18)
Patrick Cantlay (18)
#Harry Hall (18) – England
Russell Henley (18)
Shane Lowry (18) – Ireland
Maverick McNealy (18)
#Andrew Novak (18)
Nick Taylor (18) – Canada
CATEGORY 19 (0 players)
Current Scottish Open champion
—
CATEGORY 20 (TBD)
Current Spanish Open champion
TBD Oct. 9-12, 2025 at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid
CATEGORY 21 (TBD)
Current Japan Open champion
TBD Oct. 16-19, 2025 at Nikko Country Club
CATEGORY 22 (TBD)
Current Hong Kong Open champion
TBD Oct. 30-Nov. 2, 2025 at Hong Kong Golf Club
CATEGORY 23 (TBD)
Current Australian Open champion
TBD Dec. 4-7, 2025 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club
CATEGORY 24 (TBD)
Current South African Open champion
TBD Feb. 2026 at Stellenbosch Golf Club
CATEGORY 25 (TBD)
Top 50 on final Official World Golf Ranking for previous calendar year
—
CATEGORY 26 (TBD)
Top 50 on Official World Golf Ranking published week prior to current Masters
—
SPECIAL EXEMPTION (TBD)
The Masters Committee, at its discretion, also invites international players otherwise not qualified
—