Louis Oosthuizen reportedly declines PGA invite because of personal commitments

The PGA of America unveiled on Tuesday most of the 156-player field for next week’s PGA Championship at Valhalla.

Among the commitments were each of the top 103 players in the Official World Golf Ranking. LIV Golf also boasts 16 players in the field, including world No. 644 Talor Gooch, who received an invitation.

One notable absence is Louis Oosthuizen, a LIV member and current world No. 125, who has finished first, first and second in his last three non-LIV, world-ranked starts dating to last December’s win at the Alfred Dunhill Championship.

Oosthuizen is also fourth in LIV’s point standings through seven starts.

According to the AP’s Doug Ferguson, Oosthuizen was offered an invitation to compete by the PGA, but he turned it down because of “personal commitments.” Ferguson added that the specifics of those commitments were unknown.

Oosthuizen owns one major victory, the 2010 Open Championship, plus six runner-up finishes in majors, including at the 2017 and 2021 PGAs. He only played two majors last year following his June 2022 signing with LIV; he withdrew from last year’s Masters and tied for 23rd at last summer’s Open Championship.

Also, Ferguson reported that Doug Ghim is currently the first alternate. Two spots in the PGA field are open for winners of this week’s two PGA Tour events, the Wells Fargo Championship and Myrtle Beach Classic, assuming they are not already exempt. With just four players in the Wells Fargo field also not currently in the PGA (Matt Kuchar, Seamus Power, Webb Simpson and Kevin Tway), Ghim’s chances of qualifying off the alternate list are good.