Tuesday 07 May 2024 4:35 pm  |  Updated:  Tuesday 07 May 2024 4:37 pm

LIV Golf champion Gooch set for US PGA after invite to major

By: Matt Hardy

Deputy Sports Editor - City PM

The reigning LIV Golf League individual champion Talor Gooch has received an invite to the US PGA Championship at Valhalla in an interesting move for golf.

Gooch has received an invitation from the PGA of America, who have invited the American based exclusively on his LIV Golf results. He was not invited to the Masters in April and was denied access to the US Open last year on a technicality.

The American picked up a total of $39.5m from the 2023 LIV Golf individual competition, including a bonus of $18m for topping the solo ranks at the end of the season.

He will be joined from the Saudi Arabia-backed breakaway league by defending US PGA champion Brooks Koepka, high-flying South American Joaquin Niemann and 22-year-old Spaniard David Puig.

Koepka picked up $18.3m last year on the LIV Golf tour and won the last event before the US PGA Championship this year, in Singapore last week.

LIV Golf chief Greg Norman said: “The only influence is the success of LIV, our players, our penetration/acceptance and our platform. The players deserve the respect and should have received it from day one.”

South African Dean Burmester, Adrian Meronk, Lucas Herbert and former Masters champion Patrick Reed will also be at Valhalla next weekend.

Last 10 US PGA winners