LIV Golf’s Dustin Johnson gets ‘special’ PGA Championship treatment

The PGA Championship is heading to Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 15. While the LIV Golf-PGA Tour merger hangs over all of professional golf, the Major Championships loom large. LIV stars Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, and Phil Mickelson will all be in the field at the PGA. But one guy needed some help. The Associated Press reported that LIV Golf’s Dustin Johnson has received a special exemption for the PGA Championship.

“Dustin Johnson required a special invitation because the PGA takes the last five winners of the Masters, instead of a Masters champion getting a five-year exemption. Johnson won the Masters in November 2020 during rescheduling from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Doug Ferguson reported.

The US Open and the Open Championship have both created categories for LIV Golf players to qualify through. But the PGA Championship and The Masters have not added that, instead inviting whoever they want. That includes Johnson, who has never won the PGA.

LIV Golfers Tom McKibbin, Sergio Garcia, and Joaquin Neimann also received special invitations to the PGA Championship. While they are not qualified in any other way, the tournament felt it was not the same without those players. Patrick Reed qualified through his top-three finish at The Masters.

Johnson did not have to qualify for any majors through the 2025 Masters because of his win at the 2020 Masters. But now, he will have to find ways into The Open and the PGA if he wants to play. He is in Augusta and the US Open as a past champion.

On the PGA Tour side, Rickie Fowler also received a special invite to Quail Hollow. He is outside the Top 100, but because of marketing purposes and his large fanbase, Fowler has received an invite. He was also on the Ryder Cup team in 2023, which is run by the same governing body as the PGA Championship.