The 2024 PGA Championship won’t have an asterisk. Talor Gooch, the 2023 LIV Golf individual champion and an outspoken critic of golf’s major championship qualifying process, has apparently received an invitation to play in next week’s PGA Championship.
Gooch announced on X that he has received an invitation to play in the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla:
(Yahoo Sports has reached out to the PGA of America for confirmation of Gooch’s special exemption.)
Gooch had long criticized the fact that many LIV players don’t have a presence in the majors because of the formula used to fill out the fields. The majors rely on the Official World Golf Rankings, which don’t recognize LIV Golf’s three-round, no-cut format as a legitimate tour for points purposes. Gooch went so far as to say that if Rory McIlroy had won the Masters, it should have come with an asterisk because of the absence of LIV Golf players.
Many LIV players already have an exemption into the PGA Championship, most notably defending champion and three-time PGA winner Brooks Koepka. But those without exemptions, particularly those at early points in their careers, have had only a narrow pathway to the majors — playing well enough on other tours to merit the attention of golf’s major gatekeepers. Joaquin Niemann followed this path and won invitations to both the Masters and the PGA. Now, with Gooch’s invitation, at least one of golf’s major authorities is apparently recognizing the value of winning a LIV Golf championship, as well.
