Ten players from LIV Golf earned a spot in this year’s Masters field. One of them finished two shots off the lead with a 66 on Sunday. The other nine combined for four missed cuts, one code-of-conduct warning, and a broken driver.
That is the LIV Masters story in 2026, and it is worth sitting with for a minute.
The one who actually showed up: Tyrrell Hatton
Hatton finished at ten under, tied for third, two shots behind Rory McIlroy. He hit all 18 greens in regulation in round two. He holed out from 131 yards for eagle on Sunday and followed it with four consecutive birdies on the back nine. His final round 66 matched his second round 66 and was one of the lowest rounds of the day.
None of that is a fluke. Hatton is known more for his blunt personality and visible frustration on the course than for contending at majors. Augusta National seemed like a strange fit for someone with his temperament. He proved that assumption wrong in the clearest way possible.
The one knock on his week is rounds one and three. He opened with a 74 and went even par on Saturday when the rest of the field was scoring low. If Hatton had managed those two rounds even a shot better each, he’s in a playoff or wearing a green jacket. That’s not a criticism. That’s context. And it raises a question worth asking heading into the PGA Championship: is this the start of something, or was Augusta a peak?
I think it’s the start. But the next few majors will tell us a lot more than one brilliant week at Augusta.
Bryson DeChambeau: missed cut, no excuses left
Bryson opened with a four over 76, built around a triple bogey at the par-three 11th where he left two shots in the bunker. He needed a strong Friday to make the weekend. Instead, he made another triple bogey on his 36th hole of the tournament and walked out the door.
This is the same player who famously said Augusta plays like a par 67. Since that statement, Bryson has missed three cuts at the Masters. He has two top tens to his name there, but also a tie for 29th and a tie for 46th. He has shot 67 or better at Augusta exactly twice in that stretch.
The par 67 comment was made with confidence. The results since then have not backed it up. At some point, the gap between what a player says about Augusta and what they actually do there becomes part of the story. We are past that point with Bryson.
There is also a real conversation to be had about what his schedule looks like now. LIV events with no cuts, team formats, and shotgun starts are a different competitive environment than Augusta National on a firm, fast Sunday. That difference matters. It may be mattering more than his fans want to admit.
Cameron Smith: six straight major cuts missed
This one is harder to write, because Cameron Smith was genuinely one of the most exciting players in the world not long ago. He won The Players Championship and the Open Championship in the same year. He was ranked as high as number two in the world. He had three consecutive top-ten finishes at Augusta before joining LIV.
He shot 74-77 at this Masters and missed the cut by three shots. It is now six consecutive missed cuts in major championships. He was the only player in 2025 to tee it up in all four majors and miss every single one.
There is an honest question sitting in the middle of all of this, and it is the one most people are dancing around. Is LIV the reason? The timeline maps closely. His major results were still solid in his first two years on the circuit. Then 2025 arrived and the floor fell out. His driving accuracy issues have been well documented. The reduced competitive reps at the elite level, week in and week out, are harder to quantify but impossible to ignore.
For a deeper look at how the LIV structure differs from traditional tour competition, the format change alone tells you a lot about what these players are and aren’t being tested on every week.
Smith himself said his motivation is at an all-time high. I believe him. That does not mean the results are going to follow quickly. Six straight missed cuts is not a slump. It is a pattern that requires a real explanation.
DJ and Rahm: present, not dangerous
Dustin Johnson made the cut and finished at even par. Jon Rahm made the cut and finished at one over. Both had individual stretches of good golf. Neither was ever a threat to the leaders at any point during the week.
For Rahm specifically, this is a difficult one to process. He won this tournament in 2023. He is one of the most talented ball strikers in the game. He opened with a six over 78, which put him in a hole he could never fully climb out of. A closing 68 on Sunday was a nice round, but it came with the tournament already decided.
Charl Schwartzel made the cut and finished last among those who did. Sergio Garcia finished third from last, and his week will be remembered almost entirely for the meltdown on the second tee rather than anything he did with a club in his hand after that. If you need the full breakdown of what happened there, the pattern behind it goes back further than Sunday.
What the Masters just told us about LIV at majors
Ten players. Five missed cuts. One genuine contender. That ratio is the story, and it connects to something bigger than one week at Augusta.
LIV has moved to 72-hole events in 2026, which is at least a step toward the competitive format that majors demand. Whether that change translates to better major results will take time to measure. But the argument that LIV players are ready to compete at the highest level every time a major comes around took another hit this week.
Hatton is the exception right now. He finished top three at Augusta. He gave himself a real chance to win. And he did it with the kind of aggressive, committed golf that Augusta rewards when players stop playing scared and start playing to win.
The question heading into the PGA Championship is whether anyone else from LIV can join him in that conversation. Based on what we just saw at Augusta, the honest answer is that it does not look likely. But that is exactly why Hatton’s week matters. He showed it is possible. Now the rest of them have to figure out if they want to do the work to get there.
Who do you think steps up for LIV at the PGA Championship? Hatton again, or is there someone else you’re watching?
Clint is PGA-certified and was a Head Teaching Professional at one of Toronto's busiest golf academies. He was also featured on Canada's National Golf TV program, "Score Golf Canada," twice. He graduated with a degree in Golf Management from the College of the Desert in California and studied under Callaway's co-founder, Tony Manzoni. He has a handicap index of 6.2 and spends the winters near Oaxaca, Mexico, where he plays twice a month at the Club de Golf Vista Hermosa. He's written over 100 articles at GolfSpan since 2021. You can connect with Clint at LinkedIn, FB, his website, or Clintcpga@gmail.com.
