The PGA of America will allow LIV Golf members to compete at the 2025 Ryder Cup.
There have been questions if members of the fledgling LIV league would be allowed to compete in future Ryder Cups if a unification deal does not come to pass, especially with talks between the PGA Tour and LIV’s financial backer, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, stalling as of late. In a statement released Thursday, the PGA of America—one of the two governing bodies in control of the Ryder Cup—said it will once again allow defectors to the Saudi-backed circuit to play in the biennial event at Bethpage Black next fall. “To ensure the PGA Championship will continue to deliver the strongest field in golf and that the U.S. Ryder Cup team will continue to have access to the best American players, the PGA of American board has determined that LIV Golf players will be eligible for both.
“Going forward, all LIV Golf players are eligible for the PGA Championship and American player who qualifies for the Ryder Cup on points or is added to the U.S. team as a captain’s pick is eligible to compete.
“This is consistent with LIV Golf players competing the PGA Championship the past two years. Brooks Kopeka was a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team last year.”
A Statement from the PGA of America. pic.twitter.com/Lg92Dl8U30
— PGA of America (@PGA) September 19, 2024
In a sense this is not a surprise; during his introduction as captain of the Ryder Cup team, Keegan Bradley said he wanted the “12 best players,” no matter their PGA Tour or LIV affiliation. And as mentioned above, Koepka was allowed to play in the 2023 Ryder Cup period due to a grace period of a rule that gave PGA of America membership to current—and in Koepka’s case, former—PGA Tour players.
Koepka, along with reigning U.S. Open winner Bryson DeChambeau, would be two viable LIV candidates for 2025 inclusion.
The same exemption was not given to European players, however, in 2023, as the team’s ruling body, the DP World Tour, did not allow those who had been suspended to play. This culminated in former Ryder Cup star Sergio Garcia attempting to make an 11th-hour petition to pay fines in order to be on the roster, only for the Old World Circuit to shoot the request down.
European Ryder Cup stalwart Rory McIlroy had originally said the team may need to change its rules to allow defectors—specifically, Jon Rahm—to play at Bethpage, but to this point the DP World Tour has not announced any changes to its qualifications.
There remains a chance the golf world will be unified by next year, as tour and PIF officials met last week in New York, although progress has been slow, those briefed on the matter have told Golf Digest. One of the primary issues regards what LIV’s future will look like, along with how to assimilate defectors back to their respective tours.
Since the framework agreement was announced in June of 2023, the tour has made a separate deal for private-equity investment from the Strategic Sports Group, while LIV poached the reigning Masters champ Rahm from the tour. Additionally, outside obstacles remain for the PGA Tour-PIF partnership. The U.S. Senate opened an investigation into the pending deal, citing that the alliance “raises concerns about the Saudi government’s role in influencing this effort and the risks posed by a foreign government entity assuming control over a cherished American institution.”
The deal could be reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which analyzes mergers regarding potential threats to the nation’s security. The tour continues to be under an antitrust probe by the U.S. Department of Justice, and PIF’s investment into the tour is expected to fall under this investigation.
Main Image: Jared C. Tilton