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 latest interview with Golf Month-to-month.
“Winners needs to be exempt, and I believe you’re taking the highest 16 gamers or so. I believe when you have a season and also you end inside the highest 16, try 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 match on the [PGA] Tour, you then get in. I believe it needs to be simply the identical for LIV.
“In case you win a LIV occasion, there are solely 13, then try to be in all of the Majors as a result of that’s not simple to do. Plus, you’re going to have a number of winners, so that you’ll solely get 10 guys who win a match in a 12 months. 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 fallacious in his evaluation. Whoever wins a LIV Golf occasion mustn’t obtain direct entry to all 4 main championships.
For starters, LIV occasions function solely 54 gamers every week, a a lot smaller subject dimension than every other skilled golf match 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 a substitute of getting everybody begin on the first or tenth holes utilizing staggered tee instances.
If that’s not sufficient, the group aspect LIV additionally components in, as some gamers have stated that their technique modified when the group 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 group play aspect 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. 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 the moment 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 degree 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 lively 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 document shouldn’t be nice. The perfect 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 for the time being, 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 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, taking part in collectively solely 4 instances per 12 months, 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 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 computerized invitations to every of the 4 majors for the following 5 seasons. Different exemptions exist, too, they usually range relying on the foremost. Nevertheless, within the case of simplicity, we are able to use the five-year rule for example. As an illustration, 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 following highest finisher not in any other case exempt would obtain the nod.
Right here’s who would obtain this distinction this 12 months 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 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 ample 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 workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in Via. Comply with him on X @jack_milko.