How 2 LIV golfers can seal Open spot this week

A pair of LIV golfers can play their way into the 153rd Open this week.

Marc Leishman and Lucas Herbert are among the four stars from the Saudi-backed circuit teeing it up at the Australian Open this week.

And the R&A has announced that the DP World Tour event will mark the beginning of the 2025 Open Qualifying Series.

Introduced in 2014, the series offers players around the world the chance to book their place in golf’s oldest major championship.

While the full schedule and list of exemptions will be published early next year, three places in The Open at Royal Portrush will be up for grabs at Kingston Heath.

The leading three players not already exempt who make the cut will earn places in The Open and that’s welcome news for the LIV duo.

“Major exemptions are really important,” Herbert said.

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“Obviously, the three Open Championship spots this week, it’s a big focus of ours and I think you probably see a few more guys from LIV coming out to play these events, or play the Aussie Open anyway, in years to come with those on the table.”

Leishman echoed those thoughts and highlighted how the exemptions are a ‘big draw’.

“Yeah, I think those three Open spots are huge,” he said. “It’s definitely a big draw card for this event.

“We all want to be playing the majors but certainly it’s extra motivation to play well this week if we need any.”

Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann are also in the lineup for the second event of the new season but are both exempt for the Claret Jug showpiece.

One concern for Ripper GC teammates Herbert and Leishman would be their Official World Golf Ranking.

In the event of a tie for a place through the Open Qualifying Series, the player with the higher world ranking at the beginning of the week will be granted the exemption.

Herbert, after winning the NSW Open recently, moved back inside the world’s top 200. He currently sits at number 196. Meanwhile, Leishman is ranked 575th.

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Meanwhile, Niemann was one of three players who capitalised on the exemptions at this event last year.

The Chilean won the event from Japan’s Rikuya Hoshino in second before also being awarded a spot in the Masters.

Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley ultimately made that decision, but he lavished praise on the second of Australia’s DP World Tour events.

As he explained Niemann’s invitation, Ridley called the Australian Open one of the “great, great championships in the world”.

And when asked if history could repeat itself, Herbert issued a plea for the game to open up more direct pathways into majors.

“Yeah, it’s tricky to know whether [Niemann’s Masters and PGA invitations] would eventuate from this [Australian Open] win or not,” he said.

“[I’d] love to get back into a landscape of golf where something translates a bit more directly for us playing [majors] and LIV.”

John Turnbull A graduate of the University of Stirling, John joined the bunkered team in 2023 as a Content Producer, with a responsibility for covering all breaking news, tour news, grassroots content and much more besides. A keen golfer, he plays the majority of his golf at Falkirk Golf Club. Top of his 'bucket list' is a round of Pebble Beach... ideally in the company of Gareth Bale.