The Players Championship has seen two consecutive years of missing out on seeing LIV golfers in its field. This has certainly harnessed the field strength of the TPC Sawgrass tournament as per a few experts. It has also affected the unofficial tag of it being called the ‘fifth major’. The reason behind the Saudi-backed league players missing from the field is them being banned from playing on the PGA Tour.
Players like Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, who featured in the tournament in 2023, also made a switch to join Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, among others, which made them ineligible to participate. Apart from the defective players, golf’s biggest star Tiger Woods has also made himself unavailable for the TPC Sawgrass event.
Recently, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan informed in a press conference that the talks with PIF that back the LIV Golf, are in progress. So, if the deal gets closed soon, there is a possibility of Saudi-backed players returning to the PGA Tour to some extent.
Has The Men’s Golf Major Benefitted From The Ongoing Rift In Professional Golf?
Since the inception of LIV Golf, there have been only four men’s golf tournament that features stars from all the existing golf circuits. These four golf majors see the likes of PGA Tour pros like Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, and Rory McIlroy and the LIV stars such as Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, and Bryson DeChambeau competing with each other.
Even last year, when the majors started with the Masters at Augusta, there was a huge question regarding which side will see wearing the green jacket. In the end, it was Jon Rahm, who joined the league in December 2023, who ended up winning the tournament. Also, Saudi-backed league players, Koepka and Mickelson, finished tied for second rank on the leaderboard.
Then, at the second major, the PGA Championship, LIV star Brooks Koepka lifted the title at Oak Hill Country Club defeating the likes of PGA Tour players such as Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland. These outcomes certainly excite golf fans.
For example, The Players Championship, which is considered to have the most electrifying golf field, does not feature any LIV golfers. This has affected its legitimacy to be called the ‘unofficial fifth major.’ With no players from the Saudi-backed league, it is equivalent to any other signature event on the Tour’s calendar.
So, the conclusion is simple: the four men’s majors, the Masters, the PGA Championship, the US Open, and The Open Championship do bring golf fans together. After all, who would not want golf’s biggest stars competing with each other in a single tournament.
