Tag: Open Championship

R&A makes key changes to Open Championship exemption categories starting in 2024

The new exemption categories won’t open the door any wider for more LIV Golf players to compete in the Open.

The R&A has made a change to its exemption categories for future Open Championships starting with the 2024 tournament at Royal Troon, but it isn’t to include more LIV Golf players.

On Wednesday the governing body announced that past champions will only be exempt until the age of 55. The current age cap is 60. All golfers currently exempt as past champions will be grandfathered in and still be able to play the Open until 60.

In addition, a new exemption will be offered to players on the Asian Tour, Japan Golf Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia and the Sunshine Tour to qualify through the International Federation Ranking list, where the top five players on the list will earn a spot in the Open. An exemption for the Africa Amateur Champion has also been added.

Solely for the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon, July 18-21, Michael Hendry has been granted a medical exemption after he was unable to play in last year’s Open due to serious illness.

LIV players have been clamoring for a special exemption category even before the league withdrew its application for Official World Golf Ranking points. As it stands now, the following 13 players will tee it up at Royal Troon this summer:

Dean Burmester, Bryson DeChambeau. Tyrrell Hatton, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Adrian Meronk, Phil Mickelson, Joaquin Niemann, Louis Oosthuizen, David Puig, Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith and Henrik Stenson.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1375]

LIV Golf’s David Puig punches ticket to 2024 Open Championship with Asian Tour win

Nine players have already qualified for the Open via the Open Qualifying Series.

David Puig is bound for Scotland this summer.

The 22-year-old Spaniard won the Asian Tour’s IRS Prima Malaysian Open at Mines Resort and Golf Club thanks to consecutive rounds of 62 on the weekend to earn not only his second Asian Tour victory in four months but also a place at the 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon[anyclip-media thumbnail=”undefined” playlistId=”undefined” content=”dW5kZWZpbmVk”][/anyclip-media], July 18-21.

The Malaysian Open was the first Open Qualifying Series event of 2024. The next is the PGA Tour’s 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational, March 7-10. Six players have already qualified via the series. Dean Burmester, Darren Fichardt and Dan Bradbury earned their spots late in 2023 at the Joburg Open, while Joaquin Niemann, Rikuya Hoshino and Adam Scott earned theirs at the ISPS Handa Australian Open.

“It feels great, weird feeling for sure. We almost missed the cut. I was kind of playing good, but I kind of messed up,” said Puig, who was flirting with the cutline after the second round. “We actually finished round two good, and the weekend was just insane. I mean 18 birdies, no bogeys, in 36 holes was unbelievable.”

“And getting that Open spot is super cool, I came here for that,” he added.

Runner-up Jeunghun Wang will also join Puig at the Open, same with Denwit Boriboonsub, who finished T-3 with John Catlin but won the tiebreaker thanks to his higher position in the Official World Golf Ranking. Puig and Boriboonsub will make their Open debuts, while Wang will make his third start after missed cuts in 2016 and 2017.

[lawrence-auto-related count=4 category=1375]

Santiago de la Fuente punches Masters, British Open tickets with 2024 Latin America Amateur win

De la Fuente is a senior at the University of Houston.

A pair of major championship tickets have been punched in Panama.

Mexico’s Santiago De la Fuente shot a 6-under 64 in the final round, the low round of the day, to win the 2024 Latin America Amateur Championship at Santa Maria Golf Club in Panama City by two shots over his fellow countryman Omar Morales (69). With the victory, de la Fuente has earned a spot in both the 2024 Masters at Augusta National and 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon.

In addition to the Masters and Open, de la Fuente has also earned invitations to this summer’s Amateur Championship and the U.S. Amateur. He and Morales are also exempt to the final stage of qualifying for the U.S. Open. De la Fuente finished T-2 one shot behind champion Aaron Jarvis in 2022.

De la Fuente is a senior at the University of Houston and finished T-2 at the Argent Financial Classic earlier this fall. Morales is a junior at UCLA and finished T-1 in October at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate and finished runner-up two weeks later at the Cal Poly Invitational.

Past winners

2024 — Santiago de la Fuente

2023 — Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira

2022 — Aaron Jarvis

2021 — Canceled

2020 — Abel Gallegos

2019 — Alvaro Ortiz

2018 — Joaquín Niemann

2017 — Toto Gana

2016 — Paul Chaplet

2015 — Matias Domínguez

What are the prize money payouts for the 38 tournaments on the 2024 PGA Tour schedule?

There’s nearly $400 million in official prize money up for grabs in 2024 on the PGA Tour.

There are 38 events on the PGA Tour’s 2024 schedule, with 37 of them doling out $398,900,000 in prize money payouts.

The Tour Championship provides the biggest paydays to the lucky 30 who reach the season finale, but all of the money distributed at East Lake Golf Club is considered bonus.

So it’s the first 37 events of the season that the write checks – or shall we say, eletronic transfers – the big sums that count towards the official money list.

The Players Championship has the most official money at stake. There are eight signature events with $20 million purses. There’s the majors and the FedEx Cup Playoff events. Then there’s the best of the rest and finally the four opposite-field affairs.

To repeat, there’s nearly $400 million in official prize money and another $75 in bonus money up for grabs on the PGA Tour in 2024. Here’s a breakdown.

Staff picks: Who will win their first major championship in 2024?

Don’t be surprised if a handful of rising stars command the spotlight in 2024.

Four of the five major champions on the women’s side in 2023 were first-time winners. As for the men? Two of four.

As the golf world moves on from 2023 and looks ahead to 2024, we got to thinking, who is most likely to add a major championship to their resume for the first time in the new year? Several writers on Golfweek‘s staff have made their picks, some surprising, some not so much.

Men’s 2024 major venues: Augusta National Golf Club (Masters), Valhalla Golf Club (PGA Championship), Pinehurst No. 2 (U.S. Open) and Royal Troon (Open Championship).

Women’s 2024 major venues: The Club at Carlton Woods (Chevron Championship), Lancaster Country Club (U.S. Women’s Open), Sahalee Country Club (KPMG Women’s PGA Championship), Evian Resort Golf Club (Amundi Evian Championship), The Old Course at St. Andrews (AIG Women’s Open).

Three players (including a LIV golfer) qualify for 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon

The Open Qualifying Series is off and running with major championship exemptions on the line.

Dean Burmester, Darren Fichardt and Dan Bradbury have all qualified for next year’s 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon via the Joburg Open, the first event in the Open Qualifying Series.

The series offers players from around the world the opportunity to qualify for one of the four men’s majors and is co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour.

Burmester, who now plays in the LIV Golf League and finished 14th last season, earned a three-shot win at Houghton Golf Club in Johannesburg, South Africa, at 18 under and will play in his third Open next year. Fichardt last qualified for the Open in 2017 after winning the Joburg Open at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club. He finished runner-up this year at 15 under after a final-round 64. The defending champion Bradbury also shot 64 on Sunday to take the third qualifying spot at 13 under.

Next up in the series is the ISPS Handa Australian Open, Nov. 30-Dec. 3 at The Lakes and The Australian in Sydney. Here are the rest of the events included in the qualifying series and how many Open places are available at each.

2024 Open Qualifying Series events remaining

Event Date Exemptions available
ISPS Handa Australian Open Nov. 30-Dec. 3, 2023 Three places to leading players not already exempt
Arnold Palmer Invitational March 7-10, 2024 One place to leading player not already exempt
RBC Canadian Open May 30-June 2, 2024 Three places to leading players not already exempt
Memorial Tournament June 6-9, 2024 One place to leading player not already exempt
KLM Open June 20-23, 2024 Two places to leading player not already exempt
Regional qualifying June 24, 2024 None
Italian Open June 27-30, 2024 Two places to leading player not already exempt
Final qualifying July 2, 2024 Minimum of 16 places
John Deere Classic July 4-7, 2024 Two places to leading player not already exempt
Genesis Scottish Open July 11-14, 2024 Three places to leading players not already exempt

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1375]

What a major championship exemption for LIV Golf players would look like for 2024

It’s never too early to start thinking about the 2024 majors, right?

Major championship discussion has been all the rage since the Official World Golf Ranking rejected LIV Golf’s application for points.

Players like Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau have discussed a new exemption category for players who made the jump to the upstart circuit led by Greg Norman and financially backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

But what would a major championship exemption category for LIV players even look like? A LIV official said an exemption for the top 12 players on the points list at the end of the season would make sense in their eyes. Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley already shot down the idea. Chief executive of the R&A Keith Pelly agreed. But let’s not let that get in the way of a fun exercise.

After all, it’s never too early to start thinking about the majors right? With the Masters a little more than 150 days away, here’s how exemption categories would pan out for LIV players at the 2024 majors.

Masters not changing qualifying criteria for LIV golfers in 2024, Fred Ridley says

The majors aren’t here to serve LIV Golf.

Earlier this month, the Official World Golf Ranking denied LIV Golf’s bid for ranking points. Since then, LIV golfers like Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson have spoke openly about how the top golfers on LIV deserve world ranking points, and even going as far to say the majors should create special exemptions for LIV golfers.

However, don’t expect the Masters to change anything for 2024.

On Thursday, Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley and R&A CEO Martin Slumbers spoke with members of the media Thursday at Royal Melbourne in Australia at the 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur, a tournament where the winner receives an exemption to the Masters and Open Championship.

Ridley said the criteria isn’t changing for the 2024 Masters.

“If you look back over the history of the Masters Tournament and the qualifications that existed, we have changed those qualifications numerous times, dozens of times,” Ridley said. “We look at those every year. We don’t make changes every year, but we do look at them under the current circumstances.

“As you recall last year, there was some speculation as to whether or not we would invite LIV golfers, and we stayed true to our qualification criteria and we invited everyone who was eligible. Our qualifications are very much dynamic and we adjust to what we feel is the best interests of the tournament representing the best players in the world, so we always look at that.”

The three changes for the Masters in 2024 were inviting the NCAA individual champion, winners of FedEx Cup point-awarding fall events and a tweak to the wording of the Tour Championship qualification.

The Masters normally invites the top 50 in the OWGR as well as past champions, PGA Tour winners and high finishers from other major championships.

Meanwhile, Slumbers said the R&A is reviewing its qualification criteria, which will be released early next year. However, Slumbers said recent conversations about exemption categories have been completely off the mark.

“I think it’s very important that we don’t lose sight of the fact that The Open is intended to be open to everybody, but you earn your place in the field and through exemptions and that won’t change,” Slumbers said.

There was a follow-up question specifically naming Talor Gooch, who won the LIV individual championship and made more than $35 million this year. However, he is not eligible for any majors in 2024 and sits outside the top 200 in the OWGR.

“(LIV golfers) made decisions based on what they thought was in the best interests of their golf careers, and we certainly respect that,” Ridley said. “We do have in our invitation criteria, it does say that we reserve the right to invite special exemptions to international players, although we did issue a special exemption to an amateur (Gordon Sargent) last year.  So we are always looking at that.

“But these decisions have been made, and we’ll have to do what’s in the best interests of the Masters and we’ll continue to do that.”

Added Slumbers: “From my perspective, without getting into detail, there are plenty of opportunities for any player in the world who thinks they are good enough to have a chance to qualify and play in The Open Championship irrespective of which tour they are participating on, and that will not change.”

British Open champ Brian Harman: ‘Life is better as a major champion than not’

Harman couldn’t pinpoint exactly when it began to sink in that he had won his first major.

[anyclip pubname=”2122″ widgetname=”0016M00002U0B1kQAF_M8171″]

Brian Harman couldn’t wipe the smile off his face when he was introduced as the champion of the 2023 Open Championship at his FedEx St. Jude Championship pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday in Memphis.

“I will say that life is better as a major champion than not,” said the Champion Golfer of the Year, who earned that distinction two weeks ago at Royal Liverpool in England. “It’s been a wild ride, man. I’ve kept the Claret Jug right on top of our kitchen counter. My wife has asked me to move it several times, and it’s like, no, that’s a hard no, it’s going to stay right here.

“I’ve caught myself walking by it looking at it, and be like, ‘Damn, man, I still can’t believe it happened.’ I’m very grateful, very thankful. It was a very wild experience.”

Harman couldn’t pinpoint exactly when it began to sink in that he had won for the first time in more than six years and captured his first major at age 36.

“There’s like different layers of it sinking in,” he explained. “So I go visit my family, we rented a lake house, and after a few days I started feeling kind of normal, and then I go home and I have this just overwhelming support and a greet-and-meet at the airport. Then it takes a few days for that to sink in. Then yesterday I come out here to hit balls, and I was seeing all my fellow players, and it’s the first time I had seen them, and everyone is congratulating me. It’ll be another few days to try to let all that sink in.”

But when asked to single out a special moment, he recounted how he had returned to his rental house in England after partying with the Claret Jug on Sunday night at a nearby restaurant and he and his agent, Jeremy Elliott, were scheduled to be picked up to go to the airport at 3 a.m., and fly home.

“It’s 1:30, and I’m like, ‘Do we go to bed?’ And he goes, ‘No, we’re not going to bed. Are you crazy?’ So, it was just him and I and the Jug sipping a cold beer at 1:30 in the morning, just like, man, how cool is this?” Harman said.

First, he celebrated with his family at a lake house they rented in upstate New York, but after returning to a hero’s welcome at the airport in his hometown of St. Simon’s Island, Georgia, he hopped on his new tractor and put it to work at his farm.

“Got my place good and mowed,” he said, adding that he also, “probably partied a little too much.”

Harman arrived in Memphis on Monday and he was caught off guard by the autograph seekers who were waiting for him to sign commemorative flags and other memorabilia. He figures it will be a while before he can go find a good hole-in-the-wall restaurant as he tended to do while on the road and have dinner by himself. But Harman is ready to get back to work and see if he can continue his hot streak between the ropes. He enters the week No. 6 in the FedEx Cup standings and has his best chance to win the season-long title, which will be crowned in three weeks at the Tour Championship.

“Haven’t done a lot the last couple weeks so we’re going to be knocking some rust off for a couple days,” he said, “but I’m hoping to be ready to go by Thursday.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 tag=451189348]

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, R&A’s Martin Slumbers secretly met during 2023 British Open

R&A officials confirmed the meeting but would not provide comment on a private discussion.

[anyclip pubname=”2122″ widgetname=”0016M00002U0B1kQAF_M8171″]

Brian Harman’s stellar performance to lift the Claret Jug and claim the 2023 Open Championship last week provided a break from the ongoing news surrounding the pending deal between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

However, during Sunday’s final round, PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan and associate Amanda Staveley met with R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England. The news was first reported by the Telegraph and confirmed by Golfweek, though R&A officials would not provide comment on a private discussion.

Al-Rumayyan and Staveley were secretly brought to the property with the help of an R&A sponsor, but reports state the meeting was more “symbolic than substantive.”

Slumbers spoke about Saudi money and its place in golf last week ahead of the opening round of the final men’s major championship of the year, saying he was “very open” to talk to “various potential sponsors.”

“We have a number of large corporate partners that help us make this thing happen. I think the world has changed in the last year. It’s not just golf. You’re seeing it in (soccer). You’re seeing it in F1. You’re seeing it in cricket. I’m sure tennis won’t be that far behind,” said Slumbers. “The world of sport has changed dramatically in the last 12 months, and it is not feasible for the R&A or golf to just ignore what is a societal change on a global basis. We will be considering within all the parameters that we look at all the options that we have.’’

Newcastle United’s chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan (L) and minority owner Amanda Staveley (C) and Manchester United co-chairman Avram Glazer (R) before a match at Wembley Stadium on February 26, 2023. (Photo by Glyn Kirk/AFP)

Due to the PIF being its primary and longtime sole investor, LIV Golf was criticized as just another way for Saudi Arabia to “sportswash” its controversial human rights record, same with the PIF’s purchase of Premier League team Newcastle United, of which Al-Rumayyan is the chairman and Staveley is a co-investor.