2024 Major Championship Picture Begins To Take Shape

Each year, filling the fields for the major championships is a slow, evolutionary process that is moved along by the calendar. And we are right at the beginning of this process for the 2024 renewals of golf's four biggest events. 

How does this work?

Entry into the Masters Tournament is by invitation, which are earned through a list of qualifications. The PGA Championship has a lists of qualification criteria for berths in its field, while the U.S. Open and the Open Championships list criteria for exemption from having to qualify for their championships.  

The first big qualifying/exemption event for the 2024 major championships occured Sunday when the PGA Tour playoffs decided the 30 players who would play in this week's Tour Championship in Atlanta. 

That's because the Masters, U.S. Open, and the Open Championship each list as a qualifier or exemption into their tournament fields the list of 30 players who make up the field for the preceding year's Tour Championship. 

So, in addition for the opportunity to chase the $18 million prize that goes with winning the FedEx Cup, the following players each earned opportunities to play in the 2024 Masters, U.S. Open and Open Championship (with their place in the FedEx standings):

Keegan Bradley (13), Sam Burns (26), Patrick Cantlay (7), Wyndham Clark (9), Corey Connors (19), Jason Day (25), Tony Finau (18), Matt Fitzpatrick (10), Tommy Fleetwood (11), Rickie Fowler (14), Lucas Glover (5), Emiliano Grillo (27), Brian Harman (8), Tyrrell Hatton (28), Russell Henley (12), Max Homa (6), Viktor Hovland (2), Sunjae Im (17), Si Woo Kim (20), Tom Kim (16), Rory McIlroy (3), Taylor Moore (21), Collin Morikawa (24), Jon Rahm (4), Xander Schauffele (15), Scottie Scheffler (1), Adam Schenk (23), Jordan Spieth (29), Sepp Straka (30) and Nick Taylor (22). 

With the U.S. Open, PGA Championship and the Open Championship each expecting fields of 156, and the Masters Tournament winding up with a field of between 80 and 95 players, there will be somewhere between 545 and 560 total berths available. Obviously, the top players will fill four apiece, one in each championship.

Here is a list (based on our research) of the top players according to the Official World Golf Ranking, and the major championships each appears to have qualified for or are exempt from qualifying for - which is a long way of saying they will be in the tournament: