LIV Players Will Be Welcomed To U.S. Open With 'Open Arms,' But They Have To Earn Their Spot

With U.S. Open qualifying well underway around the country, the topic of LIV Golf players competing in the major championship has, once again, come to the forefront. The USGA is getting ahead of things by saying that LIV players will be welcomed to the tournament "with open arms" if they're able to earn their spot into the field.

LIV players, and anyone else good enough to play their way into tournament, should be welcomed with open arms. After all, it is called the U.S. Open for a reason, as any elite player can earn their way into the year's third major.

USGA CEO Mike Whan felt the need to make it clear that LIV golfers who are either exempt, or those who are qualifying like the thousands of other golfers around the country attempting to earn a spot, will be welcomed to Pinehurst later this year.

"One of the advantages we have versus most other championships in golf is, a lot of other championships call themselves open but we are the most open, meaning half of the spots in the U.S. Open are not held and are going to be filled by qualifying players," Whan told Sports Illustrated.  

"There is a good chunk of LIV players and other major winners who are already in and have played since LIV started playing and we're proud of that. But there are a lot of great players on the DP World Tour, the PGA Tour, the Korn Ferry Tour, and the Asian Tours that aren't in either and they have to go play 36 holes and try to qualify."

 (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)

As things stand in the first week of May, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Martin Kaymer, Cameron Smith, Adrian Meronk, and Tyrrell Hatton make up the group of nine LIV players exempt into the 2024 U.S. Open.

Smith was the low LIV player in the 2023 U.S. Open finishing fourth in Los Angeles.

Another 35 LIV players are expected to fight their way through open qualifying, with the majority exempt through local qualifying and will fight their way through 36-hole regional qualifying to try and earn a spot in the tournament field.

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Talor Gooch, a LIV player very much not attempting to qualify this year, has made headlines over the past year-plus with his comments about major championships and qualifying criteria.

Gooch's biggest gripe seems to be with the USGA, the governing body which runs the U.S. Open. The USGA tweaked its qualification criteria a year ago resulting in Gooch missing out on last year's U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club. He could have attempted to qualify for the tournament, but chose not to, and he's taking that same approach this year.

Amid his complaining about qualifying criteria, Gooch made the claim that a Rory McIlroy win at the Masters earlier this year would have an "asterisk" next to it without himself and a few of his fellow LIV golfers not in the field.