Players who signed up on the controversial LIV Golf circuit will be allowed to play at the 2023 Masters, Augusta officials have confirmed.
LIV players, including former Masters champions Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, have been indefinitely suspended from the PGA Tour.
But Masters chairman Fred Ridley said the aim of the event was to bring together “a preeminent group of golfers”.
He said: “We will invite those who are eligible under our current criteria to compete.”
The 87th Masters will take place at Augusta National in the United States from April 6-9.
American Scottie Scheffler won the iconic green jacket this year, finishing three strokes ahead of Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy. These are players who have both expressed their support for the PGA Tour.
The emergence of LIV Golf, a Saudi-backed breakaway tour offering huge sums of money to players, has caused deep divisions in the sport.
Led by former Australian world number one Greg Norman, the project promised to shake up the golf landscape and attracted some of the biggest names in men’s golf.
In addition to Mickelson and Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed have also been convinced to quit the PGA Tour.
There was another big defection when Australian Cameron Smith – last year’s Open champion and world number two – became the highest ranked player to join LIV.
A 14-tournament LIV Golf League – with a prize pool of $405m (£336m) is due to start in 2023 but will not compete with the four major or international team tournaments, according to the event organisers.
“Unfortunately, recent actions have divided professional men’s golf by diminishing the virtues of the game and the significant legacy of those who built it,” Ridley said.
“While we are disappointed with these developments, our goal is to honor the tradition of bringing together a preeminent group of golfers.”
Future changes to the Masters invitation criteria will be announced in April, Ridley added.
R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said in July that it was “not on the agenda” to ban LIV players from next year’s Open, but did not no longer excluded from modifying the registration for the championship.
