LIV Golf League professionals Talor Gooch (US) and David Puig (Spain) have both received invites to participate in next week’s US PGA Championship at Valhalla, Kentucky, the second Major of 2024.
Talor Gooch, the 2023 LIV Golf individual champion won three times and currently sits in 664th place in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), while Puig is in 106th place.
Neither of them received an invite to last month’s Masters.
The PGA of America also invited four more LIV Golf players including in-form South African Dean Burmester (13) former Masters champion Patrick Reed (92), Australia’s Lucas Herbert (89) and Dubai-based Pole Adrian Meronk (63)
LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman commented: “The only influence is the success of LIV, our players, our penetration/acceptance and our platform. The players deserve the respect and should have received it from day one.”
The PGA of America, the organisers of the USPGA traditionally invite the top 100 of the OWGR to play in the event.
This decision to invite players outside of the top 100 has precedents which is an interesting initiative to watch moving forward.
The following LIV Golfers are now confirmed to play in the 2024 USPGA Championship:
Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Cam Smith, Dustin Johnson, Tyrrell Hatton, Joaquin Niemann, Martin Kaymer, Adrian Meronk, Lucas Herbert, Patrick Reed, Talor Gooch, David Puig, Dean Burmester, Patrick Reed and Lucas Herbert.