Players on the LIV Golf tour will be allowed to compete this summer in British Open at Royal Liverpool, as expected.
The R&A, which runs the British Open, announced its qualifying criteria on Tuesday and in doing so said those who have already qualified, such as defending champ Cam Smith, who bolted for the controversial Saudi-backed LIV circuit last fall, will be allowed to play. That group also includes past Open champions Phil Mickelson, Louis Oosthuizen and Henrik Stenson, all of whom currently play for LIV.
Other notables from LIV who will be in the field July 20-23 include Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau, both of whom are eligible after they finished in the top 10 of the 2022 Open at St. Andrews. Each also is exempt for having won a major championship in the last five years.
Patrick Reed, who won the 2018 Masters, and Brooks Koepka, who counts the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills among his four career major titles, also got in for having won a major in the last five years.
Cam Smith won last year’s British Open at St. Andrews. Getty ImagesJoaquin Niemann and Talor Gooch, meanwhile, are both in the field after qualifying for the 2022 Tour Championship, though Gooch didn’t play in the tournament because he had already joined LIV and was suspended by the PGA Tour. Likewise, Thomas Pieters and Richard Bland got in after they finished in the top 30 of the Race to Dubai on the DP World Tour.
The decision was not a surprising one after R&A chief Martin Slumbers said during the British Open last year that banning LIV players isn’t “on our agenda.”
One change that will remain, however, is that for the second straight year the British Open will not reward a spot to the leader on the Asian Tour, which has benefitted from LIV Golf through its International Series events.
Phil Mickelson, who bolted for LIV last year, won the British Open in 2013. LIV Golf via Getty ImagesLIV, meanwhile, will tee off its second season beginning Friday at El Camaleon Golf Course in Mayakoba, Mexico.
