JD Cuban
A triumphant Hideki Matsuyama celebrates after winning the 2021 Masters.

By Ryan Herrington
There are 25 days until Christmas, 33 days until New Year’s and 130 days until the first round of the 2022 Masters.

Yes, we’re counting. And yes, we’re probably getting a little too far ahead of ourselves regarding the next men’s major championship. Still, seeing images recently recounting last year’s one-off November Masters and a general excitedness for what might come in 2022 has us anxious to look forward. (Earlier than even Masters.com, which currently still has the field for the 2021 tournament listed under players.)

OK, again, we’re admittedly focusing on the Masters a tad bit early, but we were curious who might have already locked up an invitation to play at Augusta National next April and who still has some work left between now and then to earn a spot in the field (for instance, Rickie Fowler, once again still has to qualify again).

Working under the assumption that the qualifying categories from 2021 remain in place for 2022 (the club has not officially stated if there are any changes to the criteria), we have a count of 88 total invitees so far (listed below). Taking out the past champions who did not compete in 2021 (which includes Tiger Woods), that’s 73 pros and amateurs who appear to be set to tee it up as of the end of November.

That number will grow at the end of the year, as all players inside the top 50 of the World Ranking the last week of 2021 should earn spots as well (currently that’s nine players, who we’ve include below as well).

There are a few ways still to get into the 2022 field. The winner of any of the 13 full FedEx Cup points events on the PGA Tour in 2022 not already in will qualify. Additionally, anyone in the top 50 of the World Ranking a week before the April 7-10 tournament also gets an invitation, as will the winner of the Latin America Amateur Championship in January. And, of course, Augusta National has the right to offer special invitations.

Below is who we’ve got pegged for Augusta. We’ll know officially when they get those invitations right around New Year’s.

UNOFFICIAL FIELD

PLAYER, QUALIFYING CRITERIA NUMBER(S)

Abraham Ancer, 16 (WGC-FedEx), 17
Daniel Berger, 17
Sam Burns, 16 (Valspar, Sanderson), 17
Patrick Cantlay, 16 (Memorial, BMW), 17
Paul Casey, 15
Cameron Champ, 16 (3M Open)
Stewart Cink, 12, 16 (RSM Heritage), 17
Corey Conners, 12, 17
Fred Couples, 1
Cameron Davis, 16 (Rocket Mortgage)
Bryson DeChambeau, 2, 17
Harris English, 13, 16 (Travelers), 17
Tony Finau, 12, 16 (Northern Trust), 17
Sergio Garcia, 1
Lucas Glover, 16 (John Deere)
Talor Gooch, 16 (RSM)
Austin Greaser (a), 7
Stewart Hagestad (a), 10
Brian Harman, 12
Padraig Harrington, 15
Lucas Herbert, 16 (Bermuda)
Garrick Higgo, 16 (Palmetto)
Harry Higgs, 15
Max Homa, 16 (Fortinet)
Billy Horschel, 17
Viktor Hovland, 16 (Mayakoba), 17
Sungjae Im, 16 (Shriners), 17
Trevor Immelman, 1
Dustin Johnson, 1, 7
Zach Johnson, 1
Si Woo Kim, 12
Kevin Kisner, 16 (Wyndham)
Jason Kokrak, 16 (Colonial, Houston), 17
Brooks Koepka, 2, 4, 13, 15, 17
Bernhard Langer, 1
K.H. Lee, 16 (Byron Nelson)
Marc Leishman, 12, 16
Shane Lowry, 3
Sandy Lyle, 1
Robert MacIntyre, 12
Hideki Matsuyama, 1,12, 16 (Masters, Zozo), 17
Rory McIlroy, 5, 16 (Wells Fargo, CJ Cup), 17
Phil Mickelson, 1, 4, 15, 16
Guido Migliozzi, 13
Larry Mize, 1
Francesco Molinari, 3
Collin Morikawa, 3, 4, 13, 14, 16 (Open Championship), 17
Kevin Na, 12, 7
Keita Nakajima (a), 9
Joaquin Niemann, 17
Jose Maria Olazabal, 1
Louis Oosthuizen, 13, 14, 15, 17
James Piot (a), 7
Jon Rahm, 2, 12, 13, 14, 16 (US Open), 17
Patrick Reed, 1, 12, 17
Justin Rose, 12
Xander Schauffele, 6, 12, 17
Scottie Scheffler, 17
Charl Schwartzel, 1
Adam Scott, 1
Laird Shepherd (a), 8
Webb Simpson, 12
Vijay Singh, 1
Cameron Smith, 12, 16, 17
Jordan Spieth, 1, 3, 12, 14, 17
Justin Thomas, 4, 5, 17
Erik van Rooyen, 17
Bubba Watson, 1
Mike Weir, 1
Danny Willett, 1
Gary Woodland, 2
Ian Woosnam, 1
Will Zalatoris, 12

Past champions who did not play in 2021:

Tommy Aaron
Jack Burke, Jr.
Angel Cabrera
Charles Coody
Ben Crenshaw
Nick Faldo
Raymond Floyd
Bob Goalby
Jack Nicklaus
Mark O’Meara
Gary Player
Craig Stadler
Tom Watson
Tiger Woods
Fuzzy Zoeller

Players ranked in the World top 50 as of Nov. 28 who are not already in the Masters field:

Tyrrell Hatton
Matt Fitzpatrick
Matthew Wolff
Lee Westwood
Mackenzie Hughes
Tommy Fleetwood
Ryan Palmer
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Min Woo Lee

2021 qualifying categories

1: Masters champions (lifetime)
2: U.S. Open champions (five years)
3: Open champions (five years)
4: PGA champion (five years)
5: Players champion (three years)
6: Current Olympic gold medalist (one year)
7: Current U.S. Amateur champion and runner-up (one year)
8: Current British Amateur champion (one year)
9: Current Asia-Pacific Amateur champion (one year)
10: Current U.S. Mid-Amateur champion (one year)
11: Current Latin America Amateur champion (one year)
12: First 12 players, including ties, in the previous year’s Masters
13: First 4 players, including ties, in the previous year’s U.S. Open
14: First 4 players, including ties, in the previous year’s Open Championship
15: First 4 players, including ties, in the previous year’s PGA Championship
16: Winners of PGA Tour regular-season and playoff events that award at least a full allocation of FedEx Cup points
17: Qualifiers from the previous year’s season-ending Tour Championship (top 30 in FedEx Cup)
18: 50 leaders on the final Official World Golf Ranking for the previous calendar year
19: 50 leaders on the Official World Golf Ranking published during the week prior to the current Masters