USGA Chief Confirms LIV Golf Could Have Its Own Pathway to U.S. Open

United States Golf Association (USGA) Chief Championships Officer John Bodenhamer confirmed in a recent interview that the organization is mulling a potential “pathway” for LIV Golfers to qualify for the U.S. Open.

The third Major Championship of the year is set to begin in just over a week at Pinehurst No. 2, and qualifying is just wrapping up. However, Bodenhamer was asked recently about the system of qualifying and whether LIV Golf would be able to have its own unique set of circumstances that would help more players from the promotion qualify for the event.

Heading to the US Open 🇺🇸🏆 Congratulations to Dean for qualifying to play in the US Open Championship next week 👏 #LIVGolf #StingerGC #golf pic.twitter.com/cWHRSBEoVI

— Stinger GC (@stingergc_) June 3, 2024

Bodenhamer said, “…we’ve seen a lot of good players go over to LIV,” and that discussions regarding a potential pathway for those players to have a way to qualify through their tournament play are definitely being considered.

In full, Bodenhamer said the following:

“From the beginning, we’ve been open. You earn your way in, and you get to play, whether it’s through qualifying or exemption as the past champion. You know, we’ve watched what is happening in professional golf unfold, and we’ve seen a lot of good players go over to LIV & so we’re thinking a lot about it. We’ve talked a lot about it. I think it’s reasonable to expect that at some point, yes, we would create a pathway or some way that we would get those great players, give them an opportunity to be unified again, we get a lot of them & there will be a lot that will play this week through exemption, a number of past champions and qualifiers so yeah, I think we’re looking very seriously at that.”

LIV Golfers have fought for a way to qualify for Major Championships as the tour does not currently earn points in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR). This has made it difficult for players who have not won Major Championships and earned exemptions to continue playing in those tournaments.

Nevertheless, there seems to be talk of a way in for LIV Golfers to the U.S. Open, at least from Bodenhamer’s comments. It would be a groundbreaking development, and it would be interesting to see if other Major Championship entities would follow.

Cover Image via Golfweek