Masters and Open championships still not ready to grant exemptions to LIV players

Despite calls from LIV and some notable major champions, the Open and Masters still not ready to open up to more players LIV more..

During the final week of the 2023 LIV Golf season, players and officials tried to prove that LIV players deserved to play in the majors, one way or another.. Their argument is simple:

If professional tours want the best golf courses, they must invite the best players – all the best players, even those already in a tournament secession..

The Official World Golf Ranking has derailed LIV’s efforts to help its tournaments receive ranking points, most recently a few weeks ago.. In response, some LIV players suggested that professional leagues could simply ignore the OWGR and issue player exemptions themselves.. All four major leagues’ organizing bodies offered some form of no or no comment to Yahoo Sports last week on the idea of ​​exempting LIV players, and on Thursday, two of the leagues Professional fighting has gone further.. “There has been speculation in the media recently on the subject [of major exemptions for LIV players],” R&A director Martin Slumbers, who oversees the Open Championship, said at the Career Championship Asia-Pacific Championship on Thursday 2023 at Royal Melbourne, where the winner will receive an exemption to the Open Championship and Masters.. “I want to say that’s completely unrelated.. I want to be clear that the exemption for the Open, we’re not discussing that with anyone and we’re not going to discuss that either..” anytime.. I think it’s very important that you don’t lose sight of the fact that the Open is for everyone, that you earn your place in the field, through exemptions, and that won’t change change..”

“If you look at the history of the Masters and the qualifiers that have existed, we’ve changed those qualifiers many times, dozens of times,” Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley added .. “As you will recall last year, there was speculation as to whether we would invite LIV golfers.. We remain true to our eligibility criteria.. We invited everyone who qualified.. While we do not currently anticipate making any changes in 2024, we are still reviewing [the exemption criteria] and will continue to do so.. Our qualifying is dynamic and we adjust to what we believe is in the best interest of the tournament representing the world’s best players, a pure and simple rejection from LIV players. The Open Championship is finalizing the bye criteria and is expected to launch early next year. The Masters can and has made changes to standards at any time..

Several LIV players received byes due to previous wins at a given tournament, including Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Phil Mickelson at the Masters and Cam Smith at the Open.. Others received exemptions due to wins in other professional tournaments – such as Brooks Koepka at the PGA Championship and Bryson DeChambeau at the US Open.. But for those without a history of success on the majors, including 2023 LIV individual champion Talor Gooch, there is no direct path to golf’s crown.

Gooch and others face a difficult choice: try to accumulate enough points at Asian Tour events to enter the world rankings before next year’s deadline, an unlikely prospect.. appeared or were successful enough in the open qualifying rounds for the US Open or Open Championship to earn a spot.. invitation but also a challenging path.

“In my opinion,” Slumbers said, “without going into too much detail, there are plenty of opportunities for any player in the world who thinks they are good enough to have a chance to qualify and play at the Open Championship, whatever tournament it is, they’re in it, and that’s not going to change.”

Speaking of LIV’s players, Ridley noted that “they make decisions based on what they think is in the best interest of their golf careers, and we certainly respect that.”