After Talor Gooch received a special invitation from the PGA Championship, several other golfers from LIV Golf also received invitations the tournament organizers. Following this development, CEO Greg Norman welcomed this decision and claimed that the “players deserve the respect“.
Gooch, 32, had been highly vocal this year regarding the participation of LIV golfers in major championships. Apart from those who had special exemptions, some top golfers were denied entry into the major events due to their OWGR rankings.
While his comments regarding the major championship received some flak from the social media users, the organizers of the PGA Championship perhaps were more than happy to hear him. They would send him an official invitation which he accepted on Monday.
On Tuesday, his fellow league mates David Puig, Dean Burmester, Patrick Reed, Adrian Meronk and Lucas Herbert received a similar invitation, making it one of the most stacked field of the PGA Championship. Speaking on this via GolfMagic, Norman seemed happy to see the success of LIV being accepted on the wider golf platform but urged that this (sending invitations) should have been done from day one.
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.
Greg Norman said.
Recently, Greg Norman also boosted the success of his league and took a swipe at the critics. He even claimed that their product is now being welcomed with “open arms“. With several LIV golfers being invited to the second major championship of the year, it seems the gap created between the two tours following the inception of LIV in 2022 is closing down.
LIV Golfer Louis Oosthuizen declines invitation from PGA Championship
While Talor Gooch and other LIV Golfers were happy to receive and accept the special invitation from the PGA Championship, there was one player, Louis Oosthuizen who would shock the world with his decision. The South African declined the invitation from the PGA.
The Stingers GC captain has been one of the top performers of LIV Golf this season. He currently is fourth in the league standings just behind his teammate Dean Burmester, Jon Rahm, and Joaquin Niemann. The former Open Championship winner cited personal commitments as reason for backing out from the competition.
Oosthuizen’s decision will see a total of 16 LIV golfers participate next week instead of 17. This though still sees an increase in the number of LIV golfers in a major championship this year. The Masters tournament in April saw a total of 13 golfers tee off at the Augusta National.
Next week at the Valhalla course, four-time LIV Golf winner Brooks Koepka, will enter the field as the defending champion. The defense of the title won’t be that easy for him though as he will have to battle it out against 155 challengers.
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