The Masters is widely considered one of the best golf tournaments in the business, but not according to Gary Players. In his mind, the tournament is ranked last out of the four major tournaments on the PGA Tour.

He feels the other three major tournaments are rich in history and the Masters still needs to do a lot to catch up with them. He said in an interview with the Daily Mail:

“But never mind the Masters, the Open is by far the greatest tournament on the planet.... The Open at one, the US Open two, PGA three and Augusta four. Four marvelous tournaments.”

Gary Players justified his statement by saying:

"It’s the youngest of the majors. The others are steeped in tradition and history and they still have to catch up. Nothing comes to the top without time."

He also predicted the Masters, saying that world number three Rory McIlroy will win his first major in almost a decade:

"He’s got the best swing in the world by a mile. He’s won four majors but none since 2014. I think he will win the Masters because the course is made for him. I think if he does that, he’ll go down as one of the greats, but that’s something he has to do."

He added:

"I’ve always said my judgment of superstars is they have to win six majors. People these days say anyone who wins is a superstar. No. It’s not easily done, but I believe Rory can."

Players also mentioned that if McIlroy wins the Masters, it will pale in comparison to his victory over Patrick Reed in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. McIlroy has a lot of conflict with Reed over LIV Golf, so Players believes his victory has to feel unbelievably good.

How to qualify for the Masters in 2023

LIV Golf players will be in action at the Masters this year, so Rory McIlroy might have another shot at beating LIV stars and feeling good about it.

Here's how anyone can qualify:

• Masters Tournament champions
• U.S. Open champions 2018-2022
• British Open champions 2018-2022
• PGA champions 2018-2022
• Winners of the Players Championship 2021-2023
• Current Olympic Gold Medalist
• 2022 U.S. Amateur champion and the runner-up
• 2022 British Amateur champion
• 2022 Asia-Pacific Amateur champion
• 2023 Latin America Amateur champion
• 2022 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion
• The first 12 places in the 2022 Masters Tournament
• The first four places in the 2022 U.S. Open Championship
• The first four places in the 2022 British Open Championship
• The first four places in the 2022 PGA Championship
• Winners of Tour events that award a full-point for the season-ending Tour Championship
• Those qualified for the 2022 Tour Championship
• Top 50 on the final OWGR for the previous year
• Top 50 of the current year right before the tournament

There are a lot of different ways to qualify for the tournament, so it should be a very big field. It will be full of golf's best and though Gary Players believes McIlroy will come out on top, he faces steep competition.

Scottie Scheffler is playing some of the best golf of his life and LIV stars like Cameron Smith and Dustin Johnson will provide good competition.