Massive presence of LIV Golf players at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, a DP World Tour tournament that takes place in two weeks in Scotland, at the Old Course, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns, the celebrities’ event played in Pro Am format. It has always been a different event on the European Tour calendar, similar to the stop at Pebble Beach on the PGA Tour, where the show is practically above the competition itself. For this reason, it is a week where traditionally many invitations have been given, many more than usual.
We would say that Johan Rupert, promoter of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, as well as the Leopard Creek tournament in South Africa, a strong man in the structure of the DP World Tour, has a free hand to do and undo. For this reason, the tournament has no less than 27 handpicked invitations, of which fifteen have already been awarded and ten of them have gone to LIV Golf players: Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Matt Jones, Pat Perez, Hudson Swafford, Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace, Dean Burmester, Peter Uihlein and Talor Gooch. In addition, there are four others who enter through different categories: Jon Rahm, as winner of the Race to Dubai, Tyrrell Hatton, as champion of Rolex Series tournaments between 2020 and 2024, as well as David Puig and Eugenio López Chacarra, who access the tournament through a series of places granted to the best of the Asian Tour.
So, in the cradle of golf we will have next week 14 LIV Golf golfers, at least for now, as there are still twelve invitations that have not been awarded and we will have to see who the recipients are. Fourteen represents more than a quarter of the golfers participating this week in the Dallas team final. Perhaps, the names that surprise the most are Swafford, who has had a very bad season in LIV, Pat Perez, although his personality has always been attractive for this type of championships and Matt Jones, who has never played on the European Tour.
As for the Spaniards, in addition to the three from LIV, Nacho Elvira, Adrián Otaegui, Pablo Larrazábal, Jorge Campillo, Adri Arnaus, Santi Tarrio, Rafa Cabrera Bello and Ángel Hidalgo are confirmed. For now, they are out as reserves, although everything points to them eventually entering, Manu Elvira and Iván Cantero. More difficult, if not impossible, will be those who got the card through the School, among them Sebas García Rodríguez.
The PGA of America reconfirms that LIV Golf players can play in the Ryder Cup and the PGA Championship
On the other hand, the PGA of America issued a statement this Thursday making it clear that LIV Golf players are welcome to play the PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup. This statement was made in response to information released in the United States suggesting the possibility that they could be banned from playing in these two events.
So, the conclusion is that everything remains as it was. If LIV players qualify for the PGA Championship or are invited they can play, just like before, and if they qualify for the Ryder Cup or are chosen by the captain they can also play, that is, as it was until now. So far, they have not announced that they are going to create a direct access criterion to the PGA Championship through LIV Golf, nor a way to score points for the Ryder that is not through the PGA Tour tournaments.
