The United States Golf Association unveiled plans on Wednesday to discuss pathways for golfers signed with the rebel LIV Golf series into the US Open, acknowledging the permanence of the sport’s “new world order”.
Jon Rahm’s injury withdrawal on Tuesday left only a dozen LIV players in the 156-man field for the season’s third major at Pinehurst No 2 with four coming in through final qualifying and the other eight securing their places through other exemptions. Because the Saudi-financed breakaway circuit is not recognised by the official world golf rankings, players are unable to earn points toward qualification through LIV events.
“We’re going to talk about it this off‑season, whether or not there needs to be a path to somebody or somebodies that are performing really well on LIV that can get a chance to play in that way,” the USGA chief executive, Mike Whan, said on Wednesday at a midday news conference. “I think we are serious about that. Exactly what that looks like and how that’ll curtail, I’m not just being coy. We haven’t done that yet.”
The one-year deadline to confirm a framework agreement bringing together the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) came and went last Thursday with no resolution in sight, although Tiger Woods described the latest negotiations among the parties as “positive” this week.
Whan’s revelation came as the US national championship returns to the sand hills of North Carolina for the fourth time in 25 years. A total of four players managed to finish under par across the previous three playings here and the buzz about the grounds throughout the run-up suggests no respite in degree of difficulty.
One after another they have spoken about the par-70 layout with equal parts excitement and trepidation, like skydivers on the eve of a plunge. Considering the guided missiles and rocket launchers that are the stock-in-trade of the modern professional, there’s something almost endearing about a course built in the first decade of the last century that will probably bring the world’s best to fly the white flag.
The 7,548-yard track offers a twist on the treacherous setups that have given the US Open its reputation as the most difficult test in golf, with sand, natural hardpan, pine straw and wire grass instead of the thick turf often associated with the event. Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy both give nods to the “boring” golf the task will require while the defending champion Wyndham Clark spoke ominously of the course’s famously unsparing domed greens, which threaten to play even firmer and faster with temperatures expected to reach above 90F (32C) on Friday and Saturday.
The integration of Pinehurst into the rotation – it is already booked to host in 2029, 2035, 2041 and 2047 – aligns with the USGA’s recent trend of awarding its showpiece event to classic courses that have been restored to more challenging widths. In short, it is a track that sets up nicely for shotmakers, first among them Scottie Scheffler, the 27-year-old Texan who will go off as the largest betting favourite entering a major in 15 years amid a charmed season in which he has become the first player since Tom Watson in 1980 to win five events in a campaign before the US Open.
“I’m not thinking about my wins any more,” said Scheffler, who has a marquee grouping of the world’s top three with McIlroy and the US PGA champion, Xander Schauffele, for the opening two rounds. “All I’m focused on is this week and getting ready to play. Just because I won last week doesn’t give me any shots against the field this week. We all start even par, and the field is level again starting on Thursday. Last week doesn’t really matter.”
A leading European contingent including McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and Viktor Hovland will be keen to waylay a run of dominance by Americans at golf’s four bedrock tournaments not seen in four decades.
Five US players have won each of the past five majors: Brooks Koepka at the US PGA Championship last year, Clark at last year’s US Open, Brian Harman at the Open, Scheffler at Augusta and Schauffele last month at Valhalla. That represents the longest run of American winners since Larry Nelson (1983 US Open), Tom Watson (1983 Open), Hal Sutton (1983 US PGA Championship), Ben Crenshaw (1984 Masters) and Fuzzy Zoeller (1984 US Open).
There will also be interest on the senior circuit. Phil Mickelson, a LIV stalwart and one of only two players in the field (along with Matt Kuchar) to have competed here in 1999, 2005 and 2015, will take another crack at completing the career grand slam at a tournament where he’s finished runner-up on six occasions. And Woods, making his fourth appearance of the year, is back at Pinehurst No 2 for the first time since a runner-up finish in 2005, before the radical $2.5m restoration of the Donald Ross track by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw more than a decade ago.
“This golf course is going to test every single aspect of your game, especially mentally, and just the mental discipline that it takes to play this particular golf course. It’s going to take a lot,” the 15-time major champion said. The US Open prize fund has climbed to a record $21.5m (£16.8m). The winner on Sunday will walk away with a cheque worth $4.3m.
