A long-standing event, among the most anticipated on the calendar, and boasting a quality field. The Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo (August 21-24), now in its 73rd edition and boasting a host of champions, offers several interesting prospects. It concludes the qualification process for Team Europe's spot in the next Ryder Cup (Bethpage State Park, Farmingdale, New York, USA, September 26-28) and begins the "Back 9" series, a nine-event cycle of the DP World Tour that concludes with the Genesis Championship (October 23-26), after which the top 110 in the Race to Dubai (order of merit) will earn a spot on the 2026 circuit. The finale will be the two Playoffs (Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, November 6-9, and the DP World Tour Championship, November 13-16).
Francesco Laporta, Andrea Pavan, Gregorio De Leo, and 2021 runner-up Guido Migliozzi will tee off at The Belfry course in Sutton Coldfield, England, which has hosted the Ryder Cup four times.
Denmark's Niklas Norgaard, a 23-year-old from Horsholm, is defending his only title. He spent most of the year on the PGA Tour (17 appearances and a fifth-place finish) after earning a place in the 2024 DP World Tour Race to Dubai (order of merit), awarded to the top ten players who do not otherwise qualify.
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Twenty season winners are on the starting lineup, including Englishmen Marco Penge, who won his second 2025 title last week at the Danish Golf Championship; John Parry, Daniel Brown, and Laurie Canter, all of whom have a background in LIV Golf; Spaniards Alejandro Del Rey and Eugenio Chacarra, who also played for a time in the Arab Super League; China's Haotong Li; Scots Connor Syme and Grant Forrest; Frenchman Martin Couvra; and Norwegian Kristoffer Reitan, to name a few. Other potential contenders include Englishmen Matt Fitzpatrick (who won the tournament in 2015) and Danny Willett, both Major Champions; Matt Wallace and Aaron Rai; Danes Nicolai and Rasmus Hojgaard; another Scot, Ewen Ferguson; and Americans Brandt Snedeker, who won a FedEx Cup (2012), and Brandon Wu.
Laporta, a 34-year-old from Castellana Grotte (Bari), has four top-ten finishes this season and is the highest-ranked Italian player (49th). De Leo, a 25-year-old from Biella, is seeking confirmation after finishing fourth in Denmark, which vaulted him from 146th to 100th in the Race to Dubai. It's a difficult time for Pavan, a 36-year-old from Rome, and Migliozzi, a 28-year-old from Vicenza, who have suffered three and six consecutive cuts, respectively. The prize pool is $3,500,000.
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Only one name is missing from the list of six players who will be part of Team Europe at the next Ryder Cup. Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, and Tyrrell Hatton are all certain to secure a spot, while Shane Lowry, currently No. 6, is up in the air. Wild cards will then be awarded, and Englishman Luke Donald, the reconfirmed captain of the European team, will be on court to make his assessments.
The tournament was founded in 1946 under the name Dunlop Masters, which it retained until 1982. After a year as the Silk Cut Masters (1983), it became the British Masters, a name that has almost always been associated with a sponsor's name. This year's title is the tenth in the series. In addition to Norgaard and Fitzpatrick, there will be four other past winners: New Zealander Daniel Hillier (2023), Swede Alex Noren (2016), Englishman Eddie Pepperell (2018), and Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez Castao (2008). Two Italians are among the winners: Baldovino Dass (1976) and Renato Paratore (2020).
