Masters champions Charles Coody, Fred Couples (12,14,16,17), Ben Crenshaw, Nick Faldo, Raymond Floyd, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Phil Mickelson (4,10,13,14,16,17), Larry Mize, José María Olazábal (12,16,17), Mark O'Meara, Gary Player, Vijay Singh (4,10,11,14,15,16,17), Craig Stadler, Tom Watson, Mike Weir (10,16,17), Tiger Woods (2,3,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17), Ian Woosnam, Fuzzy Zoeller 2.

The Open champions (last five years) Ben Curtis, David Duval, Ernie Els (16,17), Todd Hamilton 4.

Top 16 players and ties from the 2005 Masters Chris DiMarco (14,16,17), Luke Donald (14,15,16,17), Mark Hensby (11,16), Tim Herron (14,16), David Howell (16,17), Trevor Immelman, Tom Lehman (16,17), Justin Leonard (14,16,17), Thomas Levet, Rod Pampling (16,17) 11.

Top eight players and ties from the 2005 U.S. Open Tim Clark (14,16,17), Sergio García (14,16,17), Davis Love III (13,14,16,17), Rocco Mediate 12.

Top 40 players from the 2005 PGA Tour money list Stuart Appleby (15,16,17), Jason Bohn, Olin Browne, Bart Bryant (16,17), Mark Calcavecchia, Chad Campbell (15,16,17), K. J. Choi (16,17), Ben Crane (16,17), Lucas Glover, Pádraig Harrington (16,17), Charles Howell III, Brandt Jobe (16,17), Zach Johnson (17), Peter Lonard (16), Shigeki Maruyama (16), Billy Mayfair, Joe Ogilvie, Geoff Ogilvy (15,16,17), Sean O'Hair (16,17), Carl Pettersson (17), Ted Purdy, Vaughn Taylor, Scott Verplank (16,17) 15.

Top 50 players from the final 2005 world ranking Robert Allenby (17), Ángel Cabrera (17), Stewart Cink (17), Darren Clarke (17), John Daly, Miguel Ángel Jiménez (17), Shingo Katayama (17), Paul McGinley (17), Nick O'Hern (17), Henrik Stenson (17), Lee Westwood (17) 17.

Special foreign invitation Thongchai Jaidee Thursday, April 6, 2006 Eighteen players broke par on the lengthened Augusta National.

[4] Friday, April 7, 2006 Chad Campbell, with just one top ten result at a major (runner-up at 2003 PGA Championship), led at the halfway point by three strokes at 138 (−6).

Sunday, April 9, 2006 Mickelson won his second consecutive major (2005 PGA Championship) and his second green jacket with a final round 69 for a two-stroke victory over Tim Clark.

Others finishing in third place were Couples, Goosen, Campbell, and José María Olazábal, the 1994 and 1999 champion, who shot the round of the tournament, a six-under 66.