The winner of this week’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship will earn an invitation into the 2024 Masters and 2024 Open at Royal Troon, where they will bump elbows with the best players in the world. Missing from those fields will be LIV Golf members without prior major championship exemptions. On Thursday, Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley and R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers brushed aside the notion of adding a new exemption category for the top LIV Golf players in 2024.
“I would like to make it very clear that exemptions for the Open, we do not discuss them with anyone and nor would we at any point in time,” Slumbers said. “I think it’s very important that you don’t lose sight of the fact that the Open is intended to be open to everybody; that you earn your place in the field, through exemptions, and that won’t change.”
A recent report claimed LIV Golf was in discussions with the R&A regarding an exemption for their players. While Bryson DeChambeau urged for their 12 top players to be invited to major championships following the denial of LIV Golf’s application for Official World Golf Rankings points, it was reported the top four would be more likely at The Open. This would include LIV Golf’s season-long individual champion, Talor Gooch. Claiming three victories on the circuit in 2023, Gooch collected an astronomical amount of prize money but has drifted from as high as No. 31 in the OWGR to No. 214, where he currently stands.
In 2022, LIV Golf members were still able to play on the DP World Tour — where they offer OWGR points — and Gooch took advantage of this avenue. He finished inside the top five at the BMW PGA Championship to earn enough points to secure his place inside the top 50 of the OWGR by the end of calendar year. This remains a qualify criteria for the Masters, but LIV Golf members are now largely without a way to earn OWGR points.
“If you look back over the history of the Masters tournament, and the qualifications that existed, we have changed those qualifications in numerous times, dozens of times,” Ridley said. “We look at those every year. We don’t make changes every year, but we do look at them under the current circumstances. As you’ll recall last year, there was some speculation as to whether or not we would invite LIV golfers. We stayed true to our qualification criteria. We invited everyone who was eligible.
“While we do not, at this time, anticipate making a change in 2024, we do always look at [criteria], and we will continue to do that,” Ridley continued. “Our qualifications are very much dynamic, and we adjust to what we feel is in the best interest of a tournament representing the best players in the world. We’ll always look at that.”
Despite his career year, Gooch will likely to be an omission from the 2024 Masters, one of many from LIV Golf. A total of 18 LIV Golf members teed it up in the 2023 Masters with six of those players being past Masters champions. This number will be cut in half as DeChambeau, Cameron Smith and Brooks Koepka round out those who will be in the field for the next couple Masters due to their major championship victories. Joaquin Niemann, Mito Pereira, Abraham Ancer, Jason Kokrak and Harold Varner III are among those on the outside looking in.
These players will have a chance to qualify for The Open through its open qualifying series or local qualifying. This opportunity was taken by 21 LIV Golf members in 2023 with Laurie Canter, Branden Grace and Charl Schwartzel successfully earning their place in the field at Royal Liverpool.
“They [LIV golfers] made decisions based on what they thought was in the best interests of their golf careers,” Ridley said. “… Our invitation criteria does say that we reserve the right to issue special exemptions to international players, [and] we did issue a special exemption to an amateur and NCAA champion last year. So, we’re always looking at that. But these decisions have been made and will have to do with what’s in the best interest of the Masters.”
