Golfers in the Saudi-funded breakaway league will be able to play the US Open next week, Grand Slam tournament organizers said in a statement on Tuesday.
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The organizers (USGA) believe that it would be “unfair and inappropriate” to exclude the players who will participate this week near London in the first tournament of the LIV, the very lucrative new league carried by the former Australian champion Greg Norman.
“We pride ourselves on being the most open championship in the world and players who have earned the right to compete there this year (…) will have the opportunity to do so,” says the USGA.
The US Open will take place June 16-19 in Brookline, Massachusetts as golf is rocked by the threat of a split.
Former world No.1 Dustin Johnson and six-time Grand Slam winner Phil Mickelson, both American, are the most prestigious names to have yielded to the call of the LIV, despite threats of sanction.
The USGA clarifies that its decision “does not mean” that it supports the creation of the breakaway league or the players who participate in it. “It is only for us to know if the fact for players to participate in an alternative tournament without the authorization of their usual circuit is a fault which must lead to their disqualification”, add the organizers, who answer in the negative.
