The Masters has handed out three special invitations to golfers for this year’s event, with one of those going to a LIV Golf pro.

• Related: 4-time major champ says Tiger Woods will ‘without a doubt win this year’ – under one condition

Amongst those now heading to Augusta National in April will be LIV’s Joaquin Niemann with Fred Ridley, Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, announcing the news today saying:

“The Masters Tournament has a long-standing tradition of inviting leading international players who are not otherwise qualified.

Today’s announcement represents the Tournament’s continued commitment towards developing interest in the game of golf across the world. We look forward to welcoming each player to Augusta National this spring.”

Denmark’s Thorbjørn Olesen, Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune and Chile’s Joaquin Niemann have accepted invitations to compete in the 2024 Masters Tournament. pic.twitter.com/2O6yAncMIb

— The Masters (@TheMasters) February 21, 2024

Joining Niemann will be Thorbjorn Olesen and Ryo Hisatsune who also accepted offers to compete in this year’s Masters.

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Tiger Woods’ return to golf during the 2024 season didn’t go to plan in his first start at Riviera Country Club last week. During the second round of the Genesis Invitational, the 15-time major champion was forced to withdraw due to what he later identified as influenza.

Prior to his withdrawal, Woods was +2 and flirting with the cut line. He was hitting the ball well off the tee and on approach but was a bit sloppy around and on the greens, most likely due to competitive rust.

While speaking with Sky Sports, Laura Davies gave her opinion on Tiger’s return, viewing it from an optimistic lens.

“I actually think, if he had been fit, he’d have probably made the cut; the cut was one-over at the time, and he was two-over when he had to withdraw,”

“The way we saw him driving it on Thursday, he was scrappy, he dropped five shots – very un-Tiger-like – and he’d already dropped a couple [on Friday]. If he can drive it like that all the time, we know his irons will come around.

“They have been a little bit loose. Putting’s been great; he’s still holing those very important five, 10-footers. A lot of them were for pars yesterday and he made them.”

Davies added that she thinks Tiger can win again this year.

“The way we saw him driving it on Thursday, he was scrappy, he dropped five shots – very un-Tiger-like – and he’d already dropped a couple [on Friday]. If he can drive it like that all the time, we know his irons will come around.”

“They have been a little bit loose. Putting’s been great; he’s still holing those very important five, 10-footers. A lot of them were for pars yesterday and he made them.”

“I think, if he is going to be fit – and it looked like the signs for that are good with his body – then I think we’ve got lots to look forward to. Without a doubt he will win this year – if he stays fit.”

Whether Woods “stays fit” or not is highly questionable given what we’ve seen from him since 2022.

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While speaking with YouTube content creator, Rick Shiels, back in November (the interview was released this week), Sergio Garcia revealed that he plans to return to the DP World Tour in order to be involved in the next Ryder Cup.

“I am going to be a member again of the European [DP World] Tour, so I will play my four events or something like that. Maybe if I do well in those, maybe I can get myself in [to the European Ryder Cup team] somehow.”

“I always said that I wanted to – when I joined LIV – I wanted to still keep being a member of the DP World Tour and play my minimum four events and keep my card. Obviously, they didn’t make it too easy to be able to do that, but one of the reasons why I joined LIV was to play less so I can spend more time with my family.”

Shiels then asked Garcia how many events he planned on playing.

“If all goes well, I will be playing around 21 or 22 events,” the Spaniard replied.

The answer indicates Sergio would play all 14 LIV events, the four minimum events on the DP World Tour and between one and four majors depending on many he can qualify for (he is currently only qualified for the Masters in 2024).

Garcia hopes to be considered to be chosen to play in the Ryder Cup if he’s playing well at the time of the selections and admits being an automatic qualifier would be difficult.

“I want to give myself the best possibility for it [of playing the Ryder Cup]. Only playing a handful events, it is not easy to make it unless you do super, super well. But I guess at the end of the day if I am eligible, they see I am making the effort and I do well in LIV and I am consistent then at least hopefully I can be considered, not only because of my game but because of what I can bring to the team, and my history in the event.”

The 44-year-old added that he’s not yet thinking about being a Ryder Cup captain.

“At the moment I am not thinking about Ryder Cup captaincy. I feel like I can still bring a lot as a player but yes, obviously it is a possibility, we will see what happens.”

Garcia is the all-time leading scorer for the European Ryder Cup team, amassing 28.5 points during his career.

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