LIV Golf’s Kevin Na desires to ensure all LIV winners safe a spot within the 4 main championships, much like how PGA Tour winners robotically obtain invitations to Augusta Nationwide annually.
Na defined his reasoning in a latest interview with Golf Month-to-month.
“Winners needs to be exempt, and I feel you are taking the highest 16 gamers or so. I feel 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 suppose top-15 is sufficient, 16 is an efficient quantity. I do know The Masters does it in order that in the event you win a golf event on the [PGA] Tour, then you definately get in. I feel it needs to be simply the identical for LIV.
“When you 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 already know Jon Rahm goes to win one!”
It’s a must to credit score Na for sticking up for his tour, however the 41-year-old American is improper in his evaluation. Whoever wins a LIV Golf occasion shouldn’t obtain direct entry to all 4 main championships.
For starters, LIV occasions function solely 54 gamers every week, a a lot smaller area dimension 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 — function 72-hole competitions solely. Moreover, LIV employs a shotgun begin, the place every group of gamers start their spherical on a separate gap as an alternative of getting everybody begin on the first or tenth holes utilizing staggered tee occasions.
If that’s not sufficient, the crew aspect LIV additionally components in, as some gamers have stated that their technique modified when the crew competitors was shut. That was a serious cause why the Official World Golf Rating (OWGR) didn’t award LIV Golf occasions OWGR factors within the first place: the crew play aspect threatened the integrity of the person competitors.
Now, critics will say, ‘However LIV Golf has so many main champions!’
Little doubt they do. However let’s face actuality right here. Exterior of Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, and Tyrrell Hatton, which LIV participant might make a run at successful a serious championship? Possibly Sergio Garcia and Louis Oosthuizen? DataGolf at present has all eight of those gamers ranked among the many high 55 on the earth, so every of them can nonetheless compete on the highest stage regardless of their affiliation with the Saudi-backed circuit. Koepka and DeChambeau have confirmed that emphatically, successful 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 most effective end of his main profession got here at Augusta in 2022, one month earlier than he joined LIV, when he tied for 14th.
The very 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.
Nonetheless, the boys’s sport on the highest stage stays in peril. The game is split, with main winners competing on each the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, taking part in collectively solely 4 occasions per yr, if that. So what’s the answer?
Nicely, 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 function 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 taking part in 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 most important. Nevertheless, within the case of simplicity, we are able to use the five-year rule for instance. For example, Phil Mickelson received 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 last 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 return, because of 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 received a serious, doing so on the 2017 Masters. Koepka completed fifth however has received 5 majors in his profession, so he is not going to be skipping out on any of them quickly. After which Oosthuizen, who received the 2010 Open at St. Andrews, completed sixth in order that he would earn the fourth and last spot.
What do you make of this concept? Is it a enough compromise to Na’s proclamation? Or ought to LIV gamers obtain the advantage of the doubt? We might love to listen to your ideas within the feedback under.
Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By. Observe him on X @jack_milko.
