Li's sterling Open caps season resurgence
Chinese star earns Masters return and boost toward PGA Tour card; Masters field update
China’s Haotong Li reclaims spot at Augusta in April with T4 at Royal Portrush (Oisin Keniry/R&A via Getty Images)
For someone who didn’t win — and really didn’t come close — Haotong Li was a pretty happy guy on Sunday. Perhaps the happiest of any player not named Scottie Scheffler.
Li, the 29-year-old Chinese golfer who played in the final pairing of the Open Championship with Scheffler at Royal Portrush, sweated out a final-round 70 and a two-putt par at the 18th in order to secure a tie for fourth place, which was huge.
It meant a spot in the Masters for the first time since he played back-to-back in 2018-19, where he made the cut both times finishing T32 and T43.
And for a guy who was playing in a major championship for the first time in three years and only the third time in the last four, that is a very big deal.
“I didn’t expect anything like this,” Li said afterward. “But I’m super happy to finish top four and get in the Masters again, and I’m just looking forward to getting back there again.”
Li is the same age as Scheffler, but has seemingly been around forever. In 2017, when he was just 21, he played in the final round of the Open at Royal Birkdale with Ernie Els and fired a Sunday 63 to finish solo third. Upon completion of the round, he didn’t realize that a top four finish meant a trip to the Masters the following April.
“Really? Huge. Huge,” he said with a big grin.
Li played for Els in the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne but was struggling. His game continued to falter. He played in the 2020 PGA Championship, and then missed the cut at both the 2021 and 2022 Open.
A year ago, he was outside of the top 500 in the Official World Golf Ranking and he started this year still outside the top 300. But he won his fourth career DP World Tour event at the Qatar Masters earlier this year and in 16 DPWT starts he has only one missed cut (at the Genesis Scottish Open) and six top-10s, including Sunday’s result that sprung him from No. 111 to No. 77 in the world.
His 2025 results so far put him at third in the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai standings behind Rory McIlroy and Tyrrell Hatton but it means he is first among those eligible players who are not otherwise exempt for the PGA Tour. As it stands now, he’d earn a PGA Tour card for 2026 based on being in the top 10.
Li was fully aware of that on Sunday. In fact, he told Scheffler he wanted to play and practice with him when he gets to the PGA Tour next season.
“It was actually super calm and he’s such a lovely guy to play with,” Li said of the world No. 1 who breezed to a four-shot victory in the Open. “We did a joke about each other a little bit and just so nice to play with him.”
Asked for an example of their shared humor, Li said: “I just said, is there any time I can practice with you when I go to the PGA Tour, and he said yes. But I said, when I text you, you better reply to me, and he goes, ‘Haotong who?’ That was actually funny. Just a lovely guy to play with, and I enjoyed.”
The last few holes were perhaps not so enjoyable for Li. While Scheffler had a comfortable lead and could stroll to the finish with the Claret Jug firmly in his grasp, Li still had work to do after making a double bogey on the 14th hole to fall to 9-under and outside the top 10.
Harris English (13-under) and Chris Gotterup (12-under) locked up the second and third spots behind Scheffler, with Matt Fitzpatrick and Wyndham Clark getting to the clubhouse tied for fourth at 11-under. After his double on 14 however, Li bounced back with birdies at 15 and 17 to climb back to 11-under. Then knocked his approach to 22 feet at the 18th.
A birdie would have given him a tie for third but he safely cozied it up to 2 feet and then knocked in the par putt to clinch a share of fourth and the Masters spot that goes with it.
“I saw the leaderboard on the last three holes, and I know I need actually a couple more birdies to kind of jump him and also to secure my PGA Tour card,” Li said. “I’m sure I’m really close there as well. Overall it’s just a very good week for me.”
After a long climb back to the majors, that was almost as good as winning for Li.
Chris Gotterup’s magnificent links swing books his Masters debut (Stuart Franklin/R&A via Getty Images)
2026 Masters Field
Through 2025 Open Championship
Here’s how the 53 players currently qualified to play in the 2026 Masters got into the field
# first-timers (4); * amateurs (2); Americans (27); Internationals (26); 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, 19) – Japan
Rory McIlroy (1, 5) – 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)
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) – through 2030
CATEGORY 3 (4 players)
British Open Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
Brian Harman (3) – through 2028
Collin Morikawa (3, 4) – 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) – through 2027
CATEGORY 5 (0 players)
The Players Championship Winners (3 years)
—
CATEGORY 6 (NA)
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)
TBD August 11-17 at Olympic Club
CATEGORY 8 (1 player)
Current British Amateur Champion (Honorary, non-competing after 1 year)
#Ethan Fang*
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
TBD Sept. 13-18 at Troon North Golf Club
CATEGORY 12 (1 player)
Current NCAA Individual Champion
#Michael La Sasso*
CATEGORY 13 (7 players)
First 12 players (including ties) in previous year’s Masters
Ludvig Åberg (13) – Sweden
Corey Conners (13) – Canada
Jason Day (13) – Australia
Harris English (13, 15, 16)
Max Homa (13)
Sungjae Im (13) – South Korea
Justin Rose (13) – England
CATEGORY 14 (5 players)
First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s U.S. Open
Tyrrell Hatton (14) -- England
Viktor Hovland (14) -- Norway
Robert MacIntyre (14) – Scotland
Carlos Ortiz (14) – Mexico
Cameron Young (14)
CATEGORY 15 (TBD)
First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s British Open
#Chris Gotterup (15, 17)
Haotong Li (15) – (China)
CATEGORY 16 (1 player)
First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s PGA Championship
Davis Riley (16)
CATEGORY 17 (4 players)
Winners of non-opposite PGA Tour events from previous Masters to current Masters
Keegan Bradley (17)
Brian Campbell (17)
Ryan Fox (17) – New Zealand
#Ben Griffin (17)
Aldrich Potgieter (17) – South Africa
Sepp Straka (17) – Austria
CATEGORY 18 (TBD)
Eligible qualifiers for previous year’s season-ending Tour Championship
TBD Aug. 14-17 at Caves Valley Golf Club
CATEGORY 19 (TBD)
Top 50 on final Official World Golf Ranking for previous calendar year
—
CATEGORY 20 (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
—
* will be 50 by April 9, 2026