LIV golfer responds to PGA Championship snub

The PGA Championship field is set and a total of 16 LIV Golf stars will tee it up at Quail Hollow.

Past champions Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson headline the charge, while three players from the Saudi-backed circuit received special invites.

Tournament organisers ensured David Puig, Tom McKibbin and Dustin Johnson would compete in the second major of the year, despite sitting outside of the top 100 in the world rankings.

Less fortunate was Lucas Herbert, who is currently fifth in LIV’s individual standings after finishing inside the top five three times already this season.

And while the Aussie is disappointed to miss out, he told X account Flushing It that his form has been a result of moving on from the PGA Tour.

“I don’t think I would have played as well as I have this year had it not have been for LIV, so maybe I wouldn’t have been good enough to qualify for the PGA Championship anyway,” he said. “I’m seeing it both ways.

“It is what it is and there’s some guys on LIV that did get invited and that’s great because there’s some really high-quality golf being played on LIV at the top end of leaderboards.”

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For Herbert, a one-time winner on the PGA Tour, he claims the difference has been working on his game between campaigns.

“Having an off season to be able to do a lot of work in the gym and also a lot of equipment testing has helped too,” he added. “We were never really afforded that luxury playing on the PGA Tour.

“You just couldn’t have gotten away with playing that little golf, unless you’re Adam Scott, or these guys like Rory, who is able to guarantee he’s able to go and win an event every year.

“It’s very hard to turn down [PGA Tour] events. So, an off season and the freedom with the club contracts, being able to go and test equipment, that massively helped too.”

Meanwhile, the 29-year-old has competed in his fair share of major championships, albeit not at Augusta National.

He has contested the Masters just once since making his major debut at the 2018 US Open, which resulted in a missed cut four years later.

And not having a ticket to next week’s PGA Championship has reminded him of the major conundrum that continues to hang over LIV Golf.

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“When we came to LIV, we knew that the majors were going to be the sticking point and it was going to be the hard thing to deal with,” Herbert said.

“But it has been difficult to watch Augusta the last two years and know that I was never going to get there with the way everything is set up at the moment, there’s no clear pathway to get to Augusta.

“I’ve had chances to qualify for the other majors though, so I can’t get too upset at that. They have the right to invite, or not invite, whoever they want.

“Obviously I’ve been playing great this year, and I would have loved to have played. But a big part of why I’ve played so well this year has been being in a team environment with Ripper.

“I’ve learnt so much from the other three guys that I don’t think I would have been able to learn playing on my own on the PGA Tour.”