LIV Golf star declines PGA Championship invite after breakaway league handed major spots
LIV Golf star Louis Oosthuizen has opted to turn down an invitation to compete at next week’s PGA Championship due to ‘personal commitments’.
In total, 16 LIV stars will compete at the second major of the campaign in Kentucky, including defending champion Brooks Koepka who won his third PGA Championship at Oak Hill last May. Seven of those have been handed special invites, with the league’s membership continuing to drift down the world rankings.
The headline name on the invite list is that of Talor Gooch, who has been handed his first start at a major championship since being crowned LIV’s 2023 champion. Gooch found career-best form last season, winning three times on the Saudi-backed circuit, before lifting the year-long crown.
His efforts were not recognised in the rankings, though, with LIV continuing to host its events without Official World Golf Ranking points on offer. This has seen Gooch drift down the world list to 644th, thus making him ineligible to compete in the four major events of 2024.
After missing the Masters last month, he will make his major return though following his invite to the PGA. He is also joined by Joaquin Niemann, Patrick Reed, Adrian Meronk, David Puig and Lucas Herbert on the special exemption list, after the field for the championship in Kentucky was released on Tuesday.
One glaring absentee from the list though was Oosthuizen. It has since been reported by The Associated Press that the 41-year-old opted to turn down an offer to compete due to unknown commitments in his personal life. The South African has been in impressive form in recents months, competing across the Saudi-backed league, DP World Tour, Sunshine Tour and Asian Tour.
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Louis Oosthuizen has been in impressive form
Oosthuizen – who is a former Open champion – has starred away from LIV so far this term, winning back-to-back titles on the DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour in December. The South African won on home soil at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, before collecting the Mauritius Open title one week later.
The LIV star also finished second at the Asian Tour’s International Series event in Oman in February, and has finished runner-up on two separate occasions on the breakaway circuit in Jeddah and Adelaide. He currently sits fourth in LIV’s season-long rankings, after three top-10 finishes in his last five starts.
Oosthuizen missed his first Masters since 2008 last month, after his fall down the world rankings saw him miss out on qualification for Augusta National. The South African went on to call for ‘complete change’ in order for the four flagship events to be more accessible for LIV stars.
He told Gulf News: “I think the whole system needs to change completely.If they don’t want to give us World Ranking points on LIV Golf then they should change the system where they give spots to Majors on each tour around the world or something like that. I’m surprised those (OWGR) guys have a lot more experience than me, sitting on boards and doing their things, that I can’t believe there’s no solution to it.”