USGA considering pathway into U.S. Open for top LIV Golf players

PINEHURST, N.C. – For players who joined LIV Golf with limited or no major exemptions there is a crack, however vague, in the Grand Slam door.

For three years, the major championship bodies – Augusta National, USGA, PGA of America and R&A – have been reluctant to give players who joined LIV Golf a pathway into their events. But on Wednesday at Pinehurst, USGA CEO Mike Whan offered those players hope.

“We’re going to talk about it this offseason, whether or not there needs to be a path to somebody or somebodies that are performing really well on LIV that can get a chance to play in that way,” Whan said. “I think we are serious about that. Exactly what that looks like and how that’ll curtail, I’m not just being coy, we haven’t done that yet.”

Whan went on to explain that the USGA has pushed back on carving out exemptions for those on LIV, with the most likely scenario giving the top players from that circuit’s season-long points list exemptions into the U.S. Open like the association does for other tours, until the professional game is stable enough to make a long-term assessment.

“We’ve always felt like for the last maybe year and a half that we’re always three months away from kind of understanding what the new structure is going to look like. So before we kind of react, what is LIV going to be, what’s the PGA Tour, we always kind of felt like we’re just about to know that answer, so let’s figure that out,” Whan said. “Now I think the reason we’re being more vocal about looking at that for next year is maybe this is the new world order, and if that’s the case we wanted to take a look at that.”

There are 13 players in this week’s field at Pinehurst from LIV Golf but only four of those players earned their way into the championship via qualifying, which has been the USGA’s counter to those wanting a carve out exemptions for top performers from the breakaway circuit.

“I think we had 35 players from LIV that were exempted right into final qualifying. So if they really wanted to be here they could go play 36 holes and qualify, and some did, to their credit,” Whan said. “There is no out-of-bounds stakes on our field criteria. In other words, this major is probably different than some others, you can get in. It’s not a closed field.”

The current top 5 on the LIV Golf points list includes Joaquin Niemann, Jon Rahm, Dean Burmester, Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen. Niemann, who failed to earn a spot via final qualifying, and Oosthuizen are not in this week’s field (Rahm was exempt but withdrew with a foot injury).

The USGA currently offers exemptions to three players from the European circuit and the top points earner from the Korn Ferry Tour’s previous season.

“I don’t think it’s a huge pathway but we do offer other pathways through DP [World Tour] or Korn Ferry [Tour], so we know that there’s an option to get there,” Whan said. “We’re not a closed door.”

The timing of Whan’s comments is also worth noting with members of the Tour’s transaction subcommittee meeting last Friday with representatives of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which owns LIV Golf, and increased speculation that a deal between the two sides is imminent.