LIV Golf stars dealt major Open blow after clear response to latest demand

The stars of LIV Golf caused a stir among the audience after answering the final questions live.

LIV golfers’ qualifications for The Open have fallen after the Official World Golf Ranking was rejected again, with the R&A saying it has no plans to change its criteria.

LIV golf stars’ hopes of qualifying for next year’s Open have been dealt a major blow after R&A boss Martin Slumbers announced updates to the 2024 exemption criteria.

The number of LIV stars competing at Royal Troon next year will be limited as the league recently relinquished its official golf world ranking status. Much of the open field is determined by world rankings, and the further down the list LIV players go, the more likely their representation in Scotland will be for some of the great winners of the past.

As part of the most recent OWGR rejection last October, there was an invitation to a major championship to showcase standards to a leading group led by former US champion Bryson DeChambeau. The Telegraph later reported that the governing body was in talks with the R&A to secure 12 free slots for the circuit’s top players. However, Slumbers seems to have ruled out the possibility of the LIV chain getting its own launch track. He confirmed that the same process will be followed in 2024, taking into account the events of this year. “Looking at last year’s Open qualifiers and how we structured the field for the 2023 Open, Sluimert Golf Digest vs. “We are confident that we have created an opportunity to get what we want.

“This is the best global sector we can get. For me it is global. And I did it. There are many top 50 places in the world rankings as well as qualifiers in South Africa, Australia, Japan, the Asian Tour and the final qualifiers.

“I am confident that we will find the best players and put them on the field. We will do the same next year.” The name most likely to miss Royal Troon is 2023 LIV Golf singles champion Talor Gooch, who is unable to play in any of the four majors due to his condition.

One LIV star who knows exactly what it takes to win a major is former US Open champion Graham McDowell. He thinks Slumbers and company need Gooch in that area. “The big key now is that LIV players have more access to the Championship,” McDowell told Mirror Sport.

“You start looking at the list of players who won’t be released from the Majors next year. “Joaquin Niemann and Talor Gooch are the only two off the top of my head,” he added. “The majors need these players because they are among the top 25 in the world.”

In response to McDowell’s request, Gooch admitted that he still wanted to participate in the big event. “I say it’s an honor to have a great champion and a great player like Graeme,” Gooch told Mirror Sport after this month’s Hong Kong Open. “We’ll see what they (the people in charge of the majors) decide and hopefully I can get to a major next year.”