Before winning his second consecutive LIV Golf tournament, American Talor Gooch confirmed on social media he will have a spot at this month’s PGA Championship. However, his status for next month’s U.S. Open remains uncertain, which he called “disappointing.”
The episode underscores the continued divide in professional golf and the efforts by the major championships to go their own way amid the squabbling between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, which are dueling in a federal antitrust lawsuit filed by the Saudi-funded tour. LIV Golf has not been approved by the Official World Golf Ranking, meaning the tour’s players fail to earn points and continue to fall in the world order, adversely affecting their chances to play in golf’s biggest events.
At No. 59 in the OWGR, Gooch is on the bubble to qualify for the U.S. Open, which offers top-60 exemptions as of May 22 or June 12. Gooch, who was suspended by the PGA Tour last spring upon signing with LIV Golf, has slipped from a high of No. 31 in early 2022. He likely would fall further without a solid result at the PGA and miss a top-60 U.S. Open exemption.
Gooch failed to secure a U.S. Open exemption late last year via his top-30 standing in FedEx Cup points when he was ineligible to compete in the Tour Championship because of his LIV association. The USGA tweaked its exemption category in February to read “those players who qualified and were eligible for the season-ending 2022 Tour Championship.” (The Masters enacted a similar policy, effective in 2024. Gooch will be eligible for this year’s Open Championship via his top-30 FedEx Cup standing from last year.) He did not register to compete in U.S. Open Final Qualifying and attempt to earn a spot via a one-day, 36-hole qualifier, according to Sports Illustrated.
Gooch complained that the USGA “retroactively changed that rule,” which the USGA denied.
In a statement issued to Global Golf Post, the USGA said: “The USGA annually reviews its exemption criteria for all championships, and we did for the 2023 U.S. Open. Importantly, we provided more clarity to a specific exemption category to reflect that players must be both qualified and eligible for the Tour Championship, beginning with the 2023 U.S. Open. The change was not made retroactively, but rather as a part of our annual review process and included within several other changes made to the criteria for the upcoming 2023 championship.”
Gooch, who won consecutive LIV events in Australia and Singapore, will be among 12 LIV players expected to be eligible for the PGA on May 18-21 at Oak Hill Country Club’s East Course in Pittsford, New York: Bryson DeChambeau (2020 U.S. Open winner), Dustin Johnson (2020 Masters), Martin Kaymer (past champion), Brooks Koepka (past champion), Phil Mickelson (past champion), Cameron Smith (2022 Open Championship winner), Mito Pereira and Brendan Steele (both among top 15 of 2022 PGA), plus likely OWGR qualifiers Abraham Ancer (ranked No. 37), Patrick Reed (46) and Thomas Pieters (48).
sam greenwood, getty images
The PGA Tour and LIV Golf continued their fight over discovery and subpoenas in an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Saudi-funded tour in U.S. District Court in Northern California. READ MORE
A mangled Porsche luxury sports car purportedly once owned by LIV Golf player Patrick Reed was spotted on the website Copart, which auctions salvaged autos, according to a report on TheDrive.com. The VIN number reportedly matched a customized green 2019 Porsche 911 GT2 RS linked to Reed after he won the 2019 Masters. The vehicle, with an original price of $450,873, had only 361 miles on the odometer, according to the salvage registration. READ MORE
Chris Keane, USGA
Abdullah Al Naboodah, a pivotal figure in the development of golf in the United Arab Emirates in the 21st century, has been appointed as a non-executive director of the European Tour Group.
Al Naboodah is the executive director at the UAE’s Al Naboodah Group, a Dubai-based conglomerate employing nearly 10,000 workers in engineering, construction and other businesses. In 1988, the Al Naboodah Group helped build Emirates Golf Club, the first grass-surfaced golf course in the UAE. One year later, Emirates hosted the first European Tour event in the region.
This year, DP World Tour, with naming rights bought by the Dubai-based logistics company, will sponsor five tournaments in the UAE, including the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, plus two stops on the developmental Challenge Tour.
“The Middle East is obviously a very important region for us,” Eric Nicoli, the chairman of European Tour Group, which runs the DP World, Challenge, Legends and G4D tours plus the Ryder Cup in Europe, said in a statement. “We have seven events in the UAE in 2023, including three Rolex Series events, and other events across the region, while DP World, the title partner of our main tour, is headquartered in Dubai.
“We therefore felt it was important for us to have representation from the region on our Board of Directors. Abdullah combines impressive business experience with a considerable long-term commitment to golf at all levels, from his support of grassroots projects right through to his sponsorship of DP World Tour events, and is an excellent addition to our ambitious board.”
Al Naboodah, whose companies have sponsored tournaments on the DP World Tour, called the appointment “an absolute honor.” READ MORE
TAP-INS
The PGA Tour has merged its developmental tours in Latin America and Canada to form PGA Tour Americas. Beginning in 2024, the tour will play a 16-event schedule in February through September spanning Latin America, Canada and the U.S. The top 10 season-long finishers in PGA Tour Americas will earn promotions to the Korn Ferry Tour, the PGA Tour’s top feeder circuit. READ MORE
PopStroke, the putting and entertainment concept backed by Tiger Woods’ TGR Ventures, announced plans to open 13 more locations by the end of next year. Three PopStroke sites – in Scottsdale, Arizona; Delray Beach, Florida; and Tuscaloosa, Alabama – are under construction, and a Las Vegas location is expected to break ground this month. They are projected to open this year. CEO and founder Greg Bartoli cited “huge consumer demand” for the expansion. Earlier this year, TaylorMade Golf announced a “material investment” in PopStroke, which will feature TaylorMade gear. READ MORE
PGA Frisco, the PGA of America’s new home in north Texas, will open its golf courses to local residents for preview play beginning this week, Omni Hotels & Resorts announced. The Beau Welling-designed Fields Ranch West course will open Tuesday, and the Gil Hanse-designed Fields Ranch East course will open May 30, after the Senior PGA is played May 25-28. READ MORE
A Michigan business owner described by investigators as “an avid golfer” who “plays golf all over the country” has been charged with rape in two turn-of-the-century assaults carried out on golf courses in different states. Cutting-edge DNA testing linked Kurt Alan Rillema, 51, of West Bloomfield, to incidents in 1999 at Twin Lakes Golf Club in Oakland, Michigan, and in 2000 at Penn State University’s Blue Course in State College, Pennsylvania. READ MORE
In advance of next month’s U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, the USGA pledged $1 million toward the restoration of local muni Maggie Hathaway Golf Course. The project at the nine-hole par-3 course, which is operated by Los Angeles County and named after civil rights activist Maggie Hathaway, will be overseen by course architect Gil Hanse. READ MORE
The BMW Ladies Championship will be played at Seowon Hills at Seowon Valley Country Club in Paju, South Korea, the LPGA announced. The $2.2 million, 78-player, no-cut tournament had been on the schedule for October 19-22 as the second of four stops on the fall Asia Swing but without a site confirmed. READ MORE
The teams were finalized for next month’s Arnold Palmer Cup matches with selections by the respective committees for the U.S. and International squads. The six qualifiers for each of the men’s and women’s teams had been finalized one week earlier. Among the at-large picks: Wake Forest senior Emilia Migliaccio, a contributor to Global Golf Post Women, to the American team. The annual matches among top college golfers will be played June 8-10 at Laurel Valley Golf Club in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, which is 11 miles from the late Arnold Palmer’s boyhood home of Latrobe. READ MORE
Carrie Forsyth, whose UCLA women’s teams won two NCAA championships and five Pac-12 titles among 74 team victories, will retire after 24 years as the coach at her alma mater, the school announced. She will become a special assistant to athletic director Martin Jarmond. UCLA will compete May 8-10 at TPC San Antonio in Texas in one of six NCAA regionals. READ MORE
The Southeastern Conference grabbed four of the six top seeds for the NCAA Division I women’s regionals that will be played May 8-10, the NCAA announced. The SEC’s Louisiana State, South Carolina, Mississippi State and Texas A&M teams were seeded No. 1 for the 54-hole stroke-play events, which will decide the 30-team field (plus the top individual from a non-qualifying team at each regional) for the national tournament on May 19-24 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. READ MORE
Compiled by Steve Harmon