The R&A announced Monday that it created a new pathway for LIV golfers to qualify for the British Open, the season’s final major championship.
The leading player among the top five of the LIV standings who isn’t already exempt after the LIV Dallas tournament, which takes place June 27-29, will receive an invitation to this year’s British Open, set for July 17-20 at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
The R&A also announced that a British Open qualifying tournament will take place in Macao starting March 20. That is four days after LIV’s event in Singapore, which gives LIV golfers who already will be in Asia another opportunity to qualify.
Last week, the U.S. Golf Association announced that the highest-ranked nonexempt player in the top three of the LIV standings as of May 19 will earn a spot at this year’s U.S. Open. Starting in 2026, the top-ranked nonexempt player from the previous year’s final LIV standings also will earn a spot in the tournament, along with the top-ranked nonexempt player at the season’s midpoint.
The Masters and the PGA Championship have not announced any additional pathways to qualification for LIV golfers, though both tournaments have extended special invitations to LIV’s Joaquin Niemann, who finished second on LIV’s 2024 points list and has excelled of late in events on the European and Asian tours. The PGA Championship also has given a special invitation to Sergio Garcia, who finished third in last year’s LIV points race (Garcia has a lifetime exemption into the Masters as the 2017 champion), and is likely to extend special invitations to other LIV golfers.
LIV golfers risk being shut out of major championships because many of their spots are reserved for the top golfers in the Official World Golf Ranking. Golfers do not accrue OWGR points at LIV events, which have smaller fields, take place over just three days and have no cut lines, and many LIV golfers have plummeted down the OWGR rankings.
“We acknowledge that players competing in LIV Golf should also have the opportunity to secure places in the Open through its individual season standings as well as existing pathways,” R&A chief executive Mark Darbon said, according to the Associated Press.
LIV golfers Cameron Smith, Henrik Stenson, Phil Mickelson, Louis Oosthuizen, Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Tyrrell Hatton and Niemann already are guaranteed entry in this year’s British Open by virtue of being a past champion, a recent winner of another major or a top-30 finisher in last year’s points race on the European tour. Last year, 17 LIV golfers qualified for the British Open at Royal Troon, though only two – Rahm and Dean Burmester – finished in the top 20.
LIV began its fourth season this past weekend with a tournament in Saudi Arabia that was won by Adrian Meronk. The circuit’s operator, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, continues to negotiate a formal partnership with the PGA Tour in talks that began in June 2023. It is hoping its new television deal with Fox will generate increased interest in the United States.