Is PGA playing games with RC eligibility?

Captain wants "12 best," but will LIV stars still be allowed to play for Team USA?

Bryson DeChambeau should be welcomed with open arms (Keyur Khamar/PGA Tour via Getty Images)

The Ryder Cup is just more than a year away but the PGA of America is playing coy with the eligibility criteria, especially as it relates to LIV Golf players — including U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau.

And this despite the fact that U.S. captain Keegan Bradley has made it clear he wants the “12 best players” and that the PGA of America needs to work out the eligibility issues.

Although the criteria for 2025 have yet to be announced, the PGA of America is keeping a points list based on the 2024 major championships and Players Championship which sees DeChambeau third in the standings.

Both The Telegraph in the U.K. and Sports Illustrated on Wednesday reached out to PGA of America officials for comment and were told there is no information to be confirmed at this time.

The Telegraph suggested there is some pushback from PGA of America officials regarding the rules that will allow a player to be eligible as long as he is a member of the PGA of America.

It is also possible that PGA of America officials are waiting as long as possible to see if there is some resolution to the PGA Tour-Public Investment Fund talks that would, in theory, bring the two sides back together.

Due to a technicality, Brooks Koepka was eligible for the U.S. team last year despite giving up his PGA Tour membership. PGA Tour members are automatically members of the PGA of America.

That membership was extended through June of 2024, meaning there is an obvious issue going forward. Are LIV players eligible or not? Can they join the PGA of America or not?

A PGA of America spokesman told Sports Illustrated that the organization doesn’t “have anything to share at this time,” and previously has not confirmed whether LIV golfers would be eligible to compete at Bethpage Black next year.

Koepka was one of captain Zach Johnson’s at-large picks for Rome in 2023. He had won the PGA Championship and finished seventh in the Ryder Cup points standing despite not being eligible for PGA Tour events, where the majority of points could be earned.

At the time, Koepka was eligible due to a stipulation in the PGA of America rules which allowed him to remain a PGA of America member via “a grace period” that extended through 2024.

“After that, under our current rules, they may apply for PGA’s Reserve Member Classification. A3 members who resigned or are no longer PGA Tour members (suspended ) are still PGA of America members.”

Bradley said last month that he didn’t expect any changes to the qualifying system. There would likely be six players who make the team automatically through a points system that concludes in August 2025. Bradley would then have six at-large picks.

Following his victory at the BMW Championship, Bradley was asked specifically about LIV players and their eligibility.

“Yeah, I’m going to have the best 12 players, so the PGA of America, they — we're going to have the 12 best players, so they need to figure that out, if that’s their problem,” Bradley said. “I know you have to be a PGA member to play in the Ryder Cup. That’s the only stipulation that you need. So we’ll make sure if some of those guys that we think might make the team, we’ll make sure that they are a member.”

DeChambeau, who finished tied for sixth at the Masters and second at the PGA Championship before winning the U.S. Open, is currently third in U.S. Ryder Cup standings and ranked No. 10 in the world. If the PGA of America goes by previous years players will start earning points again based on money earned in January at The Sentry.

“The only weird area is the LIV guys, what they do and where they fall on the list,” Bradley said at the BMW. “We’re going to have to really get with the captains, get with the team that's going to be there and figure that out.”

Bradley, 38, was named in July to lead the U.S. team next year. He was recently picked by captain Jim Furyk to play for the U.S. side in the Presidents Cup, which is next week at Royal Montreal.

He will also be part of a one-year out news conference along with European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald in New York on Oct. 8.