Former US Open champions Dustin Johnson, Martin Kaymer and Bryson DeChambeau are among those excluded from the PGA Tour following their Saudi-backed split. The topic has dominated the debate ahead of the third Men’s Championship of the Year, at the Country Club in Brooklyn. The PGA Tour does not have immediate effect at the US Open, but relationships within the golf ecosystem are strong. When asked if a scenario could be envisioned in the future where the LIV team would be excluded from the US Open, USGA CEO Mike Whan said: “Yes”. Asked to expand into this position, Whan said: “I just answered the question: ‘Could I predict one day? “Yes, I could predict one day.” Do I know what that day is like? No, I do not. “To be honest with you, what we were talking about was different two years ago and it was different two months ago than it is today. We’ve been doing this for 127 years, so I think the three of us and everyone else we work with need to have a long-term view of this and see where these things are going, so that we are not on our knees reacting to what we are doing. “But the question was, ‘Could you imagine a day where it would be more difficult for some people who did different things to get into a US Open?’ I could. Will it be true? I do not know, but I can definitely predict that day. “ Whan revealed that the USGA was slow to prevent LIV golfers from playing in this 122nd scene of the US Open, but ultimately considered it unfair and impossible. “We gave this championship by asking ourselves, whether these people were excluded from 2022 [US] Open? We thought the answer to that was no and that was the decision we made. “I understand. is news. We are not going to get away from the news. We had to make some difficult decisions that not everyone agrees with. “I do not know where this will go.” These players who have been part of Saudi Arabia’s plan have been heavily criticized by an organization set up by the families of some of those killed in the 9/11 atrocities. A letter saying these players had “sold out” was sent to agents Johnson, DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed and Kevin Na. Everyone is in this US Open field. “We have full support for 9/11 families,” Whan said. “Listen, we are all Americans, and if anyone does not remember that day, then shame on you. This is alive and well in my head. I remember where I was, what I was doing, who I was talking to when the first plane got on. We lost some neighbors. “But as it relates to the USGA and this championship, that was the decision we had to make a week ago and that was the decision we made.” R&A is expected to fully implement the same policy to those excluded for next month’s Open Championship in St Andrews. More interesting is the position that the DP World Tour, formerly the European Tour, will take in relation to the Scottish Open. DP World and PGA tours operate in strategic alliance. The US Open cash prize has risen to $ 17.5 million. The winner on Sunday will leave with a $ 3.15 million check. “What we do at a US Open is we try to get the players to soil every club in their bag,” said John Bodenhamer, head of the USGA Tournament. “We want to look at every aspect of their game. So when they win a US Open, it’s something special. “ Rory McIlroy, who is aiming to win a fifth major title almost eight years after his fourth, arrives in Massachusetts fresh from winning the Canadian Open. Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick won the US Amateur Championship here in 2013. Small greens mean a bonus to approach accuracy. “We pray this will change,” Whan said of the small focus on the tournament itself at the rally. Good luck with that.
