USGA 'Serious' About LIV Golf Route Into US Open

Mike Whan says the USGA is planning to discuss potential pathways into the US Open for members of LIV Golf.

There were 13 LIV players in the field at Pinehurst this week prior to Jon Rahm's withdrawal, but there is no direct route into America's men's national championship through the breakaway circuit.

Four earned their place through final qualifying, while the other eight qualified via one of the tournament's eligibility categories.

LIV also isn't recognised as an official tour by the OWGR, meaning players can't earn world ranking points through its events.

Several LIV players have described the OWGR as "obsolete" in the past and suggested there should be spots in Majors available through the end-of-season individual standings.

And that, among other things, was put to USGA CEO Whan ahead of the 124th US Open. 

“First, let's start with the obvious. About half this field is filled open, and I think we had 35 players from LIV that were exempted right into final qualifying,” Whan said. “So if they really wanted to be here, they could go play 36 holes and qualify, and some did, to their credit.”

He added: “John [Bodenhamer, chief championship officer] and I have both talked about it, and we're going to talk about it this off-season, whether or not there needs to be a path to somebody or somebodies that are performing really well on LIV that can get a chance to play in that way. I think we are serious about that.

“Exactly what that looks like and how that'll curtail, I'm not just being coy; we haven't done that yet.

“I also think, if I'm being perfectly honest with you, we've always felt like for the last maybe year and a half that we're always three months away from kind of understanding what the new structure is going to look like. So before we kind of react, what is LIV going to be, what's the PGA Tour?

“So we always kind of felt like we're just about to know that answer, so let's figure that out. Now I think the reason we're being more vocal about looking at that for next year is maybe this is the new world order, and if that's the case, we wanted to take a look at that.

“I think it's feasible. I don't think it's a huge pathway, but we do offer other pathways through DP or Korn Ferry, so we know that there's an option to get there.”

Whan's comments mirror those made by Bodenhamer earlier this month.

“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,” Bodenhamer said.

“We get a lot of them, and 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.”