Why there is a posse of LIV Golf players at the Hong Kong Open

The Hong Kong Open on the Asian Tour's International Series will feature several notable LIV Golf players.

28 Oct 2025

The Asian Tour's International Series continues this week at the Hong Kong Open, featuring a strong field that includes several LIV Golf players.

A number of golf legends have won this tournament since its inception in 1959.

Past winners include the likes of Rory McIlroy, Jose Maria Olazabal, Colin Montgomerie, Padraig Harrington, Justin Rose, Tom Watson, Ian Woosnam and Greg Norman.

This week, there are 34 players affiliated with LIV Golf in the field, including defending champion Patrick Reed who carded a sub-60 round en route to victory 12 months ago.

Former Masters champion Bubba Watson was supposed to tee it up, but was forced to withdraw after his season ended prematurely after he sustained a finger injury that required surgery.

Here's a take a look at the LIV players in the Hong Kong Open field:

Player name	LIV Golf status
Talor Gooch	Full-time
Harold Varner III	Full-time
Graeme McDowell	Full-time
Kevin Na	Full-time
Adrian Meronk	Full-time
Dean Burmester	Full-time
Richard Bland	Full-time
Thomas Pieters	Full-time
Jinichiro Kozuma	Full-time
Matt Jones	Full-time
Josele Ballester	Full-time
Jason Kokrak	Full-time
Sam Horsfield	Full-time
Danny Lee	Full-time
Charles Howell III	Full-time
Patrick Reed	Full-time
Tom McKibbin	Full-time
David Puig	Full-time
Martin Kaymer	Full-time
Louis Oosthuizen	Full-time
Charl Schwartzel	Full-time
Paul Casey	Full-time
Chieh-po Lee	Full-time
Caleb Surratt	Full-time
Peter Uihlein	Full-time
Ben Campbell	Full-time
Anirban Lahiri	Full-time
Wade Ormsby	Reserve
John Catlin	Reserve
Ollie Schniederjans	Reserve
Maximilian Rottluff	Reserve
Minkyu Kim	Reserve
Yubin Jang	Relegated
Anthony Kim	Relegated

Why are there so many LIV Golf players in the field?

For the first time ever, the winner of the Hong Kong Open will get a spot in fields for the 2026 Masters and The Open.

In August, tournament officials of The Masters and The Open announced plans to align aspects of its qualification criteria.

Related:

2026 Masters field

Going forward, invitations to The Masters and Open will be awarded to winners or top finishers of select national opens.

Those tournaments include:

Scottish Open
Spanish Open
Japan Open
Hong Kong Open
Australian Open
South African Open

Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley previously said of the decision: The Masters Tournament has long recognized the significance of having international representation among its invitees.

"We, along with The R&A, have a shared commitment to the global game and are proud to work together.

"Today’s announcement strengthens our organisations’ collective vision of rewarding top talent around the world who rise to the top of historic national open championships.

"We hope this formal recognition shines a bright light on these players and the events they will represent at the Masters and The Open, beginning next year."