LIV Golf’s Kevin Na needs to ensure all LIV winners safe a spot within the 4 main championships, just like how PGA Tour winners routinely obtain invitations to Augusta Nationwide annually.
Na defined his reasoning in a current interview with Golf Month-to-month.
“Winners ought to be exempt, and I believe you are taking the highest 16 gamers or so. I believe in case you have a season and also you end inside the highest 16, you have to be exempt into all 4 Majors,” Na stated.
“Lots of guys who’re Main champions and are exempt, they’re going to overlap, so top-10 isn’t sufficient. I don’t even assume top-15 is sufficient, 16 is an effective quantity. I do know The Masters does it in order that in case you win a golf event on the [PGA] Tour, you then get in. I believe it ought to be simply the identical for LIV.
“If you happen to win a LIV occasion, there are solely 13, then you have to be in all of the Majors as a result of that’s not straightforward to do. Plus, you’re going to have a number of winners, so that you’ll solely get 10 guys who win a event in a yr. And you recognize Jon Rahm goes to win one!”
You need to credit score Na for sticking up for his tour, however the 41-year-old American is unsuitable in his evaluation. Whoever wins a LIV Golf occasion mustn’t obtain direct entry to all 4 main championships.
For starters, LIV occasions characteristic solely 54 gamers every week, a a lot smaller subject measurement than every other skilled golf event performed all over the world. On high of that, LIV has solely 54 holes of competitors, whereas the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, and the Asian Tour — together with the 4 majors — characteristic 72-hole competitions solely. Moreover, LIV employs a shotgun begin, the place every group of gamers start their spherical on a separate gap as a substitute of getting everybody begin on the first or tenth holes utilizing staggered tee occasions.
If that’s not sufficient, the crew ingredient LIV additionally elements in, as some gamers have stated that their technique modified when the crew competitors was shut. That was a serious motive why the Official World Golf Rating (OWGR) didn’t award LIV Golf occasions OWGR factors within the first place: the crew play ingredient threatened the integrity of the person competitors.
Now, critics will say, ‘However LIV Golf has so many main champions!’
Little question they do. However let’s face actuality right here. Outdoors of Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, and Tyrrell Hatton, which LIV participant might make a run at profitable a serious championship? Perhaps Sergio Garcia and Louis Oosthuizen? DataGolf at present has all eight of those gamers ranked among the many high 55 on this planet, so every of them can nonetheless compete on the highest degree regardless of their affiliation with the Saudi-backed circuit. Koepka and DeChambeau have confirmed that emphatically, profitable the 2023 PGA Championship and the 2024 U.S. Open, respectively. They’re the one two energetic LIV gamers to win a serious.
However once more, who else might win a serious? Certain, a participant like Talor Gooch could make a run however his main file is just not nice. The very best end of his main profession got here at Augusta in 2022, one month earlier than he joined LIV, when he tied for 14th.
The actual fact is that LIV stays top-heavy in the meanwhile, with these eight gamers rating in a class of their very own. Others are both one, effectively previous the prime of their careers, like Dustin Johnson or Phil Mickelson, or two, younger and unproven in professional occasions, like Caleb Surratt or Andy Ogletree.
However, the lads’s sport on the highest degree stays in peril. The game is split, with main winners competing on each the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, enjoying collectively solely 4 occasions per yr, if that. So what’s the answer?
Effectively, going off of the purpose Na raised about ‘exemptions,’ the 4 highest finishers from the LIV Golf season — not in any other case exempt into the 4 main championships — ought to obtain invites to The Masters and the PGA Championship, the 2 occasions that characteristic the strongest fields in golf traditionally. The U.S. Open and The Open are precisely that: open competitions the place a participant could make it by enjoying effectively in qualifiers.
Keep in mind, main champions obtain automated invitations to every of the 4 majors for the next 5 seasons. Different exemptions exist, too, they usually fluctuate relying on the foremost. Nonetheless, within the case of simplicity, we will use the five-year rule for instance. As an illustration, Phil Mickelson gained the PGA Championship in 2021, so he can nonetheless play in all 4 majors in 2025. If Mickelson completed among the many high 4 within the closing standings, then the subsequent highest finisher not in any other case exempt would obtain the nod.
Right here’s who would obtain this distinction this yr if this mechanism was utilized: Joaquin Niemann, Sergio Garcia, Tyrrell Hatton, and Louis Oosthuizen.
Rahm completed first within the rankings however will play in majors for years to come back, due to his wins on the 2021 U.S. Open and the 2023 Masters. Niemann, Garcia, and Hatton completed second, third, and fourth, respectively, thus gaining entry into all 4 majors. Of these three, solely Garcia has gained a serious, doing so on the 2017 Masters. Koepka completed fifth however has gained 5 majors in his profession, so he is not going to be skipping out on any of them quickly. After which Oosthuizen, who gained the 2010 Open at St. Andrews, completed sixth in order that he would earn the fourth and closing spot.
What do you make of this concept? Is it a ample compromise to Na’s proclamation? Or ought to LIV gamers obtain the good thing about the doubt? We’d love to listen to your ideas within the feedback beneath.
Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Taking part in Via. Observe him on X @jack_milko.
