LIV Golfers Will Continue to Have to Play Their Way Into the British Open

The CEO of the R&A said Wednesday that ample avenues remain for LIV players to get to the major and that a direct path remains unlikely.

Joaquin Niemann is one of a number of LIV Golf players who qualified to play in this week's British Open. / Steve Roberts-USA TODAY Sports

TROON, Scotland — There are 18 players who have participated in LIV Golf League events this year in the British Open field, although none of them earned their spot at Royal Troon through a direct avenue via LIV events.

Without Official World Golf Ranking accreditation, LIV Golf executives and players have maintained that the majors need to offer some sort of path via LIV success into their tournaments.

That quest remains elusive.

Martin Slumbers, the CEO of the R&A which runs the Open, said Wednesday during a pre-tournament news conference that the tournament has strived through its Open qualifying series and final qualifying to give all players around the world an opportunity to make the Open field.

He did not say a LIV direct exemption was forthcoming.

“We decided after last year's event that we wanted to ensure that there was sufficient enough opportunities for all players, whichever tour they're playing on, to get into the Open,” Slumbers said. “We used our Open qualifying series. We picked events that were available for all players. We used the Asian Tour, and we used final qualifying to create those opportunities.

“I think we have 18 players from LIV in the field, and I think we've got all the best players in the world. And that's what we do want to have, all the best players in the world coming through. So I think we've created those opportunities.

“Will that evolve in the coming years? I think that depends on how the game evolves. But we will continue to want the best players in the world to be able to get into the Open in an appropriate way.”

Earlier this year, LIV Golf withdrew its application for OWGR accreditation and called on the majors to give direct access to assure having all of the best players.

So far, none of the major championships have done so. The Masters gave LIV Golf’s Joaquin Niemann a special invitation after he had won the Australian Open—which is a final qualifying series event and got Niemann a place at Royal Troon. But Masters chairman Fred Ridley made no changes in the invitation criteria for 2025.

The PGA Championship has the most flexibility with a healthy number of spots going to invitees. It invited seven LIV players into the field, several of whom were in the top 100 in the OWGR. In what was viewed as recognition of LIV Golf, it also gave a spot to Talor Gooch, who won LIV’s season-long points race in 2023 but was otherwise not exempt for the PGA.

The U.S. Open also has various means of qualifying and CEO Mike Whan said last month at Pinehurst that he is open to the idea of inviting LIV players directly, but did not commit to do so.

“I think it's feasible,” Whan said at the U.S. Open. “I don't think it's a huge pathway, but we do offer other pathways through DP (World Tour) or Korn Ferry, so we know that there's an option to get there.”

Those tours combined get four direct spots in the U.S. Open.

The Open has gone to a system of Open qualifying series events around the world. It’s how LIV’s Dean Burmester is in the field as well as Niemann. John Catlin, who has played in three LIV events, made it via the Malaysian Open. And Laurie Canter, who has been a LIV reserve, qualified via a DP World Tour list.

It also added some exemption areas that were viewed as a help to LIV golfers. Five players who compete on the Asian Tour, Japan Golf Tour, the PGA of Australasia and the Sunshine Tour can now qualify through the International Federation list that is part of OWGR. LIV’s Andy Ogletree made the field via the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

“We don’t want to take sides,” Slumbers said earlier this year. “We let the tours sort themselves out. But I think we gave every single player in LIV an opportunity to get into the Open.”

In his role at the R&A, Slumbers is a member of the seven-member board that comprises the Official World Golf Ranking. That system of ranking players has come under considerable scrutiny over the past two years as LIV Golf first sought accreditation in 2022, was denied last fall, and ultimately this week decided to pull its application.

Slumbers, who is leaving his position after nine years later this year, also commented on other areas in the game.

> He reiterated his concern over escalating prize money. The Open has raised its purse to $17 million, which is a $500,000 increase from last year but still the lowest of the four major championships.

“While we will always offer a very competitive prize fund for the Open, our wider focus is on increasing participation and improving pathways in golf,’’ he said. “We have to make choices about how we allocate resources and make the resources we have go as far as they can.”

> Slumbers said that Muirfield is definitely under consideration for future Opens but acknowledged that the DP World Tour’s Genesis Scottish Open being played at a venue—the Renaissance Club—next door is an issue. He said tongue in cheek that he’d like DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings to move it, which could possibly occur in a year in which the Open is played at Murifield—which last hosted the championship in 2013.

“Absolutely, we're going back to Muirfield,” Slumbers said. “It's a brilliant golf course. I'll have a little conversation with Mr. Kinnings about maybe moving the Scottish Open from the Renaissance.”

Next year’s Open returns to Royal Portrush in North Ireland and Royal Birkdale in England in 2026.