PGA Championship Leans Into Boasting Strongest Field Among Majors With Additional LIV Invites

The PGA Championship is the most-overlooked major in professional golf. That's a peculiar fact, however, given that it regularly has the strongest overall tournament field among the four majors, and in 2024 it's clear that the PGA is leaning into that advantage.

The PGA Championship is the only major championship that does not explicitly invite amateur players to compete. Instead, the PGA of America welcomes the top PGA professionals into the field via their qualifying through the PGA Professional Championship or an exemption from their performance in the previous year's tournament. 

The PGA Championship has two other key factors it can use to its advantage as well in today's modern game: field size and special invites.

The Masters, for example, features the smallest field of all major championships, with fewer than 90 players teeing it up in last month's tournament, including five amateurs. The PGA Championship is essentially a completely opposite setup as it reserves the right to have a 156-player field.

With the additional spots to be awarded to professionals and the simple fact that the PGA of America can invite whoever it pleases - just as golf's other governing bodies can as well - it awards the PGA Championship the opportunity to essentially invite as many LIV players that it sees fit, and it's taken full advantage this year.

(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

The field for next week's PGA Championship at Valhalla was released on Tuesday, and there were far more LIV players on the official list than many expected.

Seven LIV players who were not qualified for the PGA Championship received special invites from the PGA of America, including Talor Gooch, Dean Burmester, Joaquin Niemann, Lucas Herbert, Adrian Meronk, Patrick Reed, and David Puig. In total, 15 LIV golfers are expected to tee it up at Valhalla.

 Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

The Masters featured just 13 LIV players, with Joaquin Niemann being the lone player from the Saudi-backed circuit to receive a special invite from Augusta National.

While the six LIV players who received invites to play in this year's PGA Championship don't necessarily ‘move the needle,’ all six are undoubtedly among the 156 best players in the world. According to Data Golf, Herbert is the lowest-ranked player among invites sitting at 124th in its ranking system.

While the PGA of America nor the PGA Championship will boast about being ‘the major with the most LIV players in the field,' it's a no-brainer decision for them to give spots to as many LIV golfers they see fit while further solidifying themselves as having the strongest field of all the major championships.