16 LIV GOLF PLAYERS TO COMPETE IN NEXT WEEK’S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

Led by defending champion Brooks Koepka, 16 LIV Golf players will compete in next week’s PGA Championship at Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucky.

Koepka, the Smash GC captain, won his fifth career major and third PGA Championship title last year at Oak Hill. On Sunday, he became the first golfer to win four career individual LIV Golf tournaments with his two-stroke victory in Singapore.

The PGA Championship announced its field list on Tuesday. Among the LIV Golf players in the field:

• Former PGA champions Koepka, Martin Kaymer (Cleeks GC captain) and Phil Mickelson (HyFlyers GC)

• Recent major winners Bryson DeChambeau (Crushers GC), Dustin Johnson (4Aces GC), Jon Rahm (Legion XIII) and Cameron Smith (Ripper GC)

• Qualifiers Tyrrell Hatton (Legion XIII) and Andy Ogletree (HyFlyers GC)

• Special invites Dean Burmester (Stinger GC), Talor Gooch (Smash GC), Lucas Herbert (Ripper GC), Adrian Meronk (Cleeks GC), Joaquin Niemann (Torque GC), David Puig (Fireballs GC) and Patrick Reed (4Aces GC)

Gooch is the reigning LIV Golf Individual Champion after his three-win season in 2023, while Niemann is the current points leader through the first seven tournaments this season with two wins. He also won the Australian Open during the offseason. 

Burmester won his first LIV Golf title last month in Miami and won twice during the offseason in South Africa.

Hatton finished in the top 15 at last year’s PGA Championship and also qualified as a competitor in last year’s Ryder Cup.

Ogletree, who earned his spot in this year’s LIV Golf League as the top-ranked player in the 10-event International Series in 2023, qualified via his ranking in the International Federation list.

Puig has two wins, five other top 10s and three other top 15s in his 10 most recent non-LIV starts worldwide. Like Niemann and Burmester, Puig won an Open Qualifier tournament and will compete in the Open Championship at Royal Troon in July.

Meronk won the 2023 Seve Ballesteros Award after being voted as the 2023 DP World Tour Player of the Year during a season in which he won three times.

Herbert won the ISPS Handa Championship last year while Reed, the 2018 Masters champ, was one of LIV Golf’s most consistent performers in its first two seasons.

Reed will be making his 41st consecutive start in a major, the longest active streak of any LIV Golf player.

The total of 16 players matches the number of LIV Golf players who competed in last year’s PGA Championship and is three more than the number who competed at last month’s Masters. Ten of the 13 LIV Golf teams will be represented in Valhalla.