Games over: PGAA not blocking LIV guys
LIV players eligible to compete in Ryder Cups and PGAs; R.I.P. Ron Green Sr.
Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka are options for 2025 Ryder Cup (Jon Ferrey/LIV Golf)
A day after two media outlets reported that LIV golfers — including U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau — might not be eligible for the 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup team, the PGA of America came out with a statement saying that they would, indeed, not be restricted from qualifying or being picked.
As part of that statement, the PGA also said that LIV golfers would be eligible for the PGA Championship — which is odd when you consider that they have been for the past two years.
On Wednesday, a report surfaced in U.K.’s The Telegraph suggesting that DeChambeau’s Ryder Cup candidacy was in peril. Questions asked of the PGA of America did not clarify that matter. Sports Illustrated also reached out to the PGA of America and was given no clarity on the situation, prompting stories that brought into question the potential eligibility of LIV golfers.
Ever since Keegan Bradley was named U.S. captain in July, the question has been asked about LIV players, and Bradley made it clear that he wanted the “12 best players” on his team regardless of tour.
But there was that pesky little fact that Brooks Koepka — who played on the U.S. Ryder Cup team in Rome last year — and other LIV players were no longer members of the PGA of America. That membership expired in June after a grace period granted to PGA Tour members who had paid their dues going back to 2022.
It was a simple question to answer: can they become PGA of America members while playing for LIV Golf? No answer given.
“To ensure the PGA Championship will continue to deliver the strongest field in golf and that the U.S. 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.”
— PGA of America statement
A day later, that has been answered as Kerry Haigh, the acting CEO of the PGA of America, explained the technicality to the Golf Channel.
“It’s more of a cleanup,” Haigh said. “We’ve added the LIV tour to the list of tours that are eligible towards A-3 membership, which all (PGA) tour members are eligible for. The LIV players had previously been (PGA of America) members but had we not done this they would have had to go through more requirements which no other tour members are asked to do.”
Earlier Thursday, the PGA of America released a statement saying that LIV members would be eligible for both the U.S. Ryder Cup team and the PGA Championship.
“To ensure the PGA Championship will continue to deliver the strongest field in golf and that the U.S. 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 said in a statement. “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 U.S. team as a captain’s pick is eligible to compete. This is consistent with LIV Golf players competing in the PGA Championship the past two years. Brooks Koepka was a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team last year.”
What so far has not changed is LIV Golf players’ ability to qualify for the PGA Championship. The tournament has the most leeway of any major to offer invites to its tournament, which next year will be played at Quail Hollow Golf Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Its entry criteria is quite narrow, with just the top 70 from a year-long PGA points list (PGA Tour events) and the top 20 from the Club Pro Championship qualifying, along with past PGA Championship winners and winners of the three other majors in the previous five years.
The PGA then typically fills out its field by going down the Official World Golf Ranking list to invite those among the top 100 who are not already exempt. It also will go past 70 in the PGA points to offer spots.
This year, it gave an invite to Talor Gooch, who was the leading individual points earner last year in LIV Golf, as well as to other LIV players such as Joaquin Niemann, Dean Burmester, Patrick Reed and David Puig. Reed was still among the top 100 in the OWGR at the time while the other players aside from Gooch had all found success on tours outside of LIV. (Louis Oosthuizen was also offered an invite but declined because of a scheduling conflict.)
Could the PGA offer direct spots based on LIV Golf performance? The organization has not ruled it out, but so far it has not done so.
Ron Green Sr. covered 60 consecutive Masters for Charlotte newspapers (Courtesy Green family)
A son’s tribute to his father
Veteran sports journalist Ron Green Jr. wrote this Facebook tribute on the passing his father, Ron Green Sr. Both the junior and senior Greens are recipients of the PGA of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism.
Some news about my father:
Ronald Green, 95, passed away on Sept. 18 in Charlotte after a brief illness. Green was a long-time sports columnist for the Charlotte News and the Charlotte Observer, writing about some of the most memorable events and people in the region for more than 50 years.
He is survived by son Ron Jr., (wife Tamera) and daughter, Edie (husband John) and predeceased by his son Dave (wife Mary).
Green was married to his wife, Beth, for 68 years until she passed away Oct. 1, 2023.
He and his wife loved spending time with their five grandchildren, Savannah Green, Maddie McGlone, Dakota Green, Jake McGlone and Molly Green.
Born in Greenville, S.C., Green moved nearly a dozen times before settling in Charlotte when he was in the eighth grade. By the time he was a junior at Central High School in Charlotte, Green was covering prep sports for the Charlotte News, launching a memorable career.
He began working full-time for the afternoon paper when he graduated high school in 1948 and he never attended college. Green was drafted into the army and spent time in Japan and Korea. Upon his discharge, he returned to his job at the News and was a sports writer for life.
Green worked at the Charlotte News, where he was the sports editor, through 1984 when he became the sports columnist for the Charlotte Observer. He wrote full-time for the Observer until his retirement in 1999 and continued writing occasional articles for the Observer, including his popular Thanksgiving column, for several years after retiring.
He covered more than 80 golf major championships including 60 consecutive Masters tournaments. Green also covered 25 Super Bowls, four Olympic Games, 26 Final Fours, the U.S. Tennis Open, heavyweight title bouts and countless college and professional football and basketball games.
“I loved newspapers,” Green once said. “I still remember the first day I walked into a newspaper office — how it smelled. The ink and the paper. Still remember it. Never got over it. I loved being a newspaperman. I loved the rush, and the crush, of a deadline. And I just never got over feeling good when I saw my byline in the paper.”
Green called N.C. State’s 1983 NCAA championship run with coach Jim Valvano the most exciting event he ever covered and he said amateur golfer Billy Joe Patton, who nearly won the 1954 Masters, was his favorite subject to write about.
He wrote about games and people both big and small, bringing them to life. Whether it was Dean Smith and Arnold Palmer or no-name short-track race car drivers, Green had a gift for sharing their stories.
Green’s annual Thanksgiving column, in which he would list the many things he appreciated from the smell of chicken frying to the peacefulness of Pinehurst, endeared him to readers. Countless times through the years, readers would tell him the rituals they had created about reading his Thanksgiving column and making it a part of their holiday.
He is a member of the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame, the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, the United States Basketball Writers Hall of Fame and the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame.
In 2006, Green received the PGA of America Lifetime Achievement in Journalism award and in 2010 he was honored by Jack Nicklaus with the Memorial Tournament journalism award. The Charlotte City Amateur golf championship trophy is named for him as well.
Green is the author of four books: From Tobacco Road to Amen Corner: On Sports and Life (1990); Shouting at Amen Corner (1999); Slow Dancing with Bobby Jones (2004) and a History of Charlotte Country Club (2005).
“I was born with a talent that can’t be taught and that’s just a blessing that fell to me. Plus, I loved my job,” Green said.
“From the day I walked into the News and asked for a job until the day I retired, I was in my personal heaven. I got the best seats, got to talk to the players and coaches, got to write about, saw it published in the paper and I got paid for it.
“If that isn’t heaven for a guy from an old mill hill, what is?”
A private funeral service will be held.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The First Tee of Greater Charlotte.