Las Vegas golfer wants more access to majors for LIV Golf
February 4, 2025 - 1:12 pm
The 2025 golf season officially begins this week with all major tours in action for the first time this year.
That includes the PGA Tour in Phoenix for the largest-attended event in golf at TPC Scottsdale, the first full-field tournaments on the LPGA Tour and Champions Tour, and the 2025 debut of LIV Golf.
This is the week one year ago when LIV played in Las Vegas, attempting to capitalize on Super Bowl 58 being in town the same week. This year, they’re playing halfway around the world in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It’s part of the tour’s strategy to play primarily internationally in its fourth year. Just five of its tournaments will be played in the United States, as well as the season-ending team championship.
It’s been a quiet offseason for LIV, which failed to convince any big names to make the jump. Just six new players are on the tour’s roster, the most intriguing being Tom McKibbin, a 22-year-old protege who already had status on both the PGA and DP World tours.
And as the season begins, players are once again singing about not earning world ranking points and, as a result, having limited access to major championships. Jon Rahm, the tour’s best player, called it “unfair” that LIV events don’t earn world ranking points.
“At this point, to not give LIV world ranking points and the credibility it deserves, I think is wrong,” he said in January. “They need to figure something out because it’s not fair for anybody in that sense.”
LIV has been given a list of items it needs to address before that happens. Having the same 54-player fields at every event is the largest sticking point, as well as every tournament being a 54-hole affair.
As a past U.S. Open champion, Rahm finds himself in the majors, along with other LIV players like Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson.
Las Vegas golfer Kevin Na added to the conversation with his own proposal. He believes every winner of a LIV Golf event should be granted automatic entry into every major championship. He also believes the top 16 players at season’s end — nearly a third of the group — should get passes to the majors.
“It just has to happen, because there are too many good players playing out here,” Na told Golf Monthly.
Na was roasted on social media for his proposal, which would give LIV players privileges even PGA Tour players don’t receive. Winners of most PGA Tour events earn invitations to the Masters and PGA Championship, but the U.S. Open and British Open rely on world rankings and qualifying tournaments to fill their fields. The latter is a path anybody at LIV is welcome to attempt.
As it stands, Na wouldn’t benefit from his own proposal. A member of LIV since its start in 2022, Na has just three top-10 finishes, and nothing higher than a tie for sixth, during his time on the circuit.
Chip shots
*The Southern Nevada Golf Association begins its 2025 season next week with the Tournament of Champions, set for Monday at DragonRidge Country Club. The elite field is by invitation only to any players who won SNGA titles, state championships and club championships in 2024.
*Rio Secco is offering a special event on Super Bowl Sunday with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start, allowing players to finish well before kickoff. Details: www.golfriosecco.com.
Greg Robertson covers golf for the Review-Journal. Reach him at grobertson@reviewjournal.com.