Washington (AFP) – LIV Golf players will be eligible for the Ryder Cup and the PGA Championship, the PGA of America announced Thursday in a move made to ensure access to top talent. Since the early days of the upstart Saudi-backed series, the US PGA Tour has banned LIV players from competing in its events, making it hard for LIV players to earn world ranking points and qualify for majors.
But PGA and LIV players have faced each other at major tournaments in recent years, with LIV’s Brooks Koepka winning last year’s PGA Championship for his fifth major crown and receiving a captain’s pick place on last year’s US Ryder Cup team. “To ensure the PGA Championship will continue to deliver the strongest field in golf and that the US Ryder Cup team will continue to have access to the best American players, the PGA of America board has determined that LIV Golf players will be eligible for both,” the PGA of America statement said.
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“Going forward, all LIV Golf players are eligible for the PGA Championship and any American player who qualifies for the Ryder Cup on points or is added to the US team as a captain’s pick is eligible to compete.” The PGA of America decision solidifies spots in events although several LIV players had been granted special invitations to certain majors in past seasons and Koepka was welcomed into the Ryder Cup squad.
Some LIV players have been able to compete in majors thanks largely to wins before LIV began, many competing as past winners of specific majors. The move shows tensions could be easing in golf’s civil war even as talks continue between Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, LIV’s backers, and the PGA Tour about a merger agreement, negotiations that have stretched well beyond their original deadline of the end of last year.
Talks were conducted last week in New York but among the sticking points remains how to punish former PGA players who defected to LIV should they return and what LIV’s future might become.
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