Though the LIV Golf defectors have been banned from competing on the PGA Tour, they won’t suffer a similar fate with the USGA.
The U.S. Open will allow the golfers who competed in the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series event last week in England to compete this week at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, provided that they are qualified, of course.
In underscoring its premier annual event as being “the most open championship in the world,” the USGA added in a statement released on Twitter that its qualifying standards already had been set “and it’s not appropriate, nor fair to competitors, to change criteria once established.”
In other U.S. Open news:
Tiger Woods won’t be competing at The Country Club, he announced via Twitter. Woods said “my body needs more time to get stronger for major championship golf.” In April, Woods, 46, returned from a 14-month absence after a one-car auto accident that mangled his right leg and finished 47th at the Masters. He withdrew after three rounds of the PGA Championship last month. He hopes to play next month in Ireland at the J.P. McManus Pro-Am at Adare Manor as a warmup for the Open Championship at St. Andrews’ Old Course, where he has won two of his 15 major titles.
Rickie Fowler will be clinging to hope that he might win a last-minute spot in the U.S. Open after he failed to advance out of Final Qualifying last week. Fowler has played in only two of the past four major championships and has not won on the PGA Tour in nearly 3½ years. Fowler, who has yet to win a major championship after having placed top-five in all four of golf’s biggest events in 2014, was the first alternate at The Club at Admiral’s Cove near his home in Jupiter, Florida.
Martin Kaymer withdrew from the U.S. Open, citing an undisclosed injury, after he finished 16th in the 48-man LIV Golf field Saturday at Centurion Club in England. Kaymer, 37, of Germany, won the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst and earned a 10-year Open exemption, through the 2024 Open, which will return to Pinehurst. He was replaced in the Open field by David Lingmerth, who was the first alternate from the qualifier in Columbus, Ohio (READ MORE).
Boston sports fans will enjoy a doubleheader Thursday when the first round of the U.S. Open serves as the local lead-in for Game 6 of the NBA Finals. The Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors enter tonight’s Game 5 tied at 2-2 in their best-of-five series. Game 6 on Thursday will tip off at 9 p.m. EDT at the Celtics’ TD Garden in downtown Boston.
Tap-Ins
Danielle Kang announced via social media that she will be out indefinitely after it was disclosed that she competed in the recent U.S. Women’s Open with a tumor on her spine. Kang would have been the defending champion at the KPMG Women’s PGA at Congressional Country Club this month (READ MORE).
Natalie Gulbis, a one-time winner on the LPGA Tour, was named an assistant captain for the Americans’ 2023 Solheim Cup team, captain Stacy Lewis announced. Gulbis, 39, compiled a 5-4-1 career record on three winning U.S. teams (2005, 2007 and 2009) against Europe’s top female professionals. She will join Morgan Pressel on the U.S. staff. The biennial matches are set for Sept. 22-24, 2023, at Finca Cortesin in Spain (READ MORE).
The LPGA’s Chevron Championship, which moves to Houston next spring, will be played at the Jack Nicklaus Signature Course at The Club at Carlton Woods. The dates will be April 20-23. The tournament, formerly hosted by the late entertainer Dinah Shore, had been played in the California desert for 50 years (READ MORE).
The USGA broke ground June 6 for construction of a six-acre satellite campus in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Golf House Pinehurst will feature an equipment-testing facility, the USGA Experience exhibit, various golf artifacts and an outdoor learning landscape at the golf resort (READ MORE).
Graham DeLaet announced that he will be leaving the PGA Tour, but not for the Saudis’ big bucks of LIV Golf. DeLaet, 40, of Canada, is retiring after having struggled with back pain throughout his career, The Sports Network of Canada reported. He played sparingly in recent seasons and is retiring with no victories but three runner-up finishes among 33 top-10s in 186 career starts on the PGA Tour (READ MORE)
Staff and Wire Reports