USGA recognition legitimizes LIV
Narrow exemption pathway carved for U.S. Open; will other majors follow suit?
Somebody else from LIV may qualify to join reigning champ Bryson DeChambeau at Oakmont (Chris Keane/USGA)
Recognition is always good. It means, you are part of the community.
So, when the USGA issued its exemption categories for the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club, it became the first major golf organization to officially recognize LIV Golf.
Officially, here’s what the USGA announced on Wednesday:
For the 2025 championship at Oakmont, a full exemption will be awarded to the top player who is not otherwise exempt and in the top three of the 2025 LIV Golf individual standings as of May 19, 2025. Additionally, local exemptions into final U.S. Open qualifying will be awarded to the top 10 players from the 2025 LIV individual standings as of April 7, 2025.
Beginning with the 2026 championship at Shinnecock, the top player who is not otherwise exempt and in the top three of the final 2025 LIV Golf individual standings and the top player who is not otherwise exempt and in the top three of the 2026 LIV individual standings as of May 18, 2026, will receive a full exemption.
The top 10 players from the final 2025 LIV Golf individual standings as well as the top 10 players from the 2026 LIV Golf individual standings as of April 6, 2026, will receive a local exemption into final U.S. Open qualifying.
The USGA acknowledgement in the form of its exemption categories comes less than three years after LIV held its first event in England on June 9, 2022.
That opening salvo at Centurion Club was a week before the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club outside of Boston, making it the first major with LIV players involved.
At the time, USGA CEO Mike Whan was not asked about exemptions or pathways but whether LIV players could even play in the U.S. Open at Brookline if they had qualified.
“We definitely feel responsibility to this game, and we feel a responsibility to the competitors that play it. We did sit down and have a long conversation about a week before the U.S. Open,” Whan said. “Did where somebody else played and what promoter they played it with disqualify them for this event? We decided no on that, with all the awareness that not everyone would agree with that decision.
“Whether we all like it or not, in February 30 guys played for the same promoter (PIF) in Saudi Arabia with an acceptable release from the PGA Tour, and for years the DP World Tour has had an event there (the Saudi International), same promoter. … So we asked ourselves the question of one week before if you play somewhere where you’re not approved to play, would you be disqualified for the 2022 U.S. Open? And we said no.”
In the same press conference, it was clear that Whan knew that if LIV survived the early years, his organization would eventually have to treat it as part of the golf ecosystem. But he skirted the issue as fast as he could at the time.
The Masters and PGA Championship have nibbled around the edges with LIV players by offering spots to non-exempt players in their two major events, but neither have created an exemption pathway to play in those majors.
The R&A has reverted to its qualification process and did not provide an exemption for any LIV players when it first came up in 2022. However, then-CEO of the R&A, Martin Slumbers, stated support of the Open’s qualification process.