The chief championships officer of the USGA has told Golf Channel that LIV Golf players could soon receive a direct pathway into the US Open to ensure more of the world’s best players compete against each other.
As it stands there will be just 12 LIV Golf players competing in next week’s 2024 US Open at Pinehurst No.2 in North Carolina.
Only three LIV Golf players came through US Open qualifying: Eugenio Chacarra, Dean Burmester and David Puig.
They join the already exempt nine LIV Golf players in the field: Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Cameron Smith, Phil Mickelson, Tyrrell Hatton and Adrian Meronk.
It currently means no place in the field for a number of LIV Golf stars such as Joaquin Niemann, Talor Gooch, Patrick Reed and Sergio Garcia, albeit the latter could still sneak in as a result of being one of the first alternates following his near-miss in US Open qualifying last month.
The number of LIV Golf US Open entries falls one short of the 13 that participated in The Masters at famed Augusta National in April, and four short of the 16 at last month’s US PGA Championship at Valhalla, a number that was inflated slightly due to some late PGA of America invites.
DeChambeau has come the closest to notching a major win for LIV Golf in the first two majors of the season so far after finishing one shot behind PGA Tour star Xander Schauffele at the US PGA.
But according to the USGA’s chief championships officer John Bodenhamer, the number of LIV Golf participants in the US Open is more than likely going to increase heavily over the coming years as a result of a direct ‘pathway’.
Bodenhamer told Golf Channel on the eve of the third major of the season:
“From the beginning, we’ve been open, you earn your way in you get to play whether it’s through qualifying or exemption as the past champion.
“You know we’ve watched what is happening in professional golf unfold and we’ve seen a lot of good players go over to LIV & so we’re thinking a lot about it, we’ve talked a lot about it.
“I think it’s reasonable to expect that at some point yes, we would create a pathway or someway that we would get those great players, give them an opportunity to be unified again, we get a lot of them & there will be a lot that will play this week through exemption, a number of past champions and qualifiers so yeah, I think we’re looking very seriously at that.”
Check out how each of the 12 LIV Golf players qualified for the 2024 US Open…
| Jon Rahm | past champion (10 year exemption) |
| Bryson DeChambeau | past champion (10 year exemption) |
| Dustin Johnson | past champion (10 year exemption) |
| Martin Kaymer | past champion (10 year exemption) |
| Brooks Koepka | past champion (10 year exemption) |
| Cameron Smith | finished in top 10 last season |
| Phil Mickelson | 2021 US PGA champion |
| Adrian Meronk | 2023 Race to Dubai Rankings |
| Tyrrell Hatton | qualified and played in 2023 Tour Championship |
| Eugenio Chacarra | 2024 US Open qualifying event |
| David Puig | 2024 US Open qualifying event |
| Dean Burmester | 2024 US Open qualifying event |