R&A CEO: LIV players have enough opportunities to qualify for Open

As he heads into his final Open Championship as the CEO of the R&A, the largest governing body in golf, Martin Slumbers feels there already are enough ways for members of LIV Golf to qualify for the major without installing a direct pathway.

LIV Golf has given up its attempts to gain accreditation with the Official World Golf Ranking and receive world ranking points for its 54-hole, no-cut events. The Saudi-backed breakaway tour has turned to advocating for a number of guaranteed berths for its top-performing players into the four major championships.

At his pre-Open press conference Wednesday at Royal Troon in Scotland, Slumbers pointed to the fact that 18 LIV players are in the field this week, most of any major this year.

Those players made the field either based on past performance (winning a major, or finishing in the top 10 and ties at last year’s Open); by qualifying from the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup race or the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai; by finishing highly at an “Open Qualifying Series” event around the world; or via final qualifying earlier this summer.

“We decided the year after last year’s event that we wanted to ensure that there was sufficient enough opportunities for all players, whichever tour they’re playing on, to get into The Open,” Slumbers said. “We used our Open qualifying series. We picked events that were available for all players. We used the Asian Tour, and we used final qualifying to create those opportunities.

“I think we have 18 players from LIV in the field, and I think we’ve got all the best players in the world. And that’s what we do want to have, all the best players in the world coming through. So I think we’ve created those opportunities.

“Will that evolve in the coming years? I think that depends on how the game evolves. But we will continue to want the best players in the world to be able to get into The Open in an appropriate way.”

The R&A’s stance differs from its counterpart in North America. USGA CEO Mike Whan said last month that his governing body would consider a LIV Golf exemption category this offseason.

Slumbers also defended The Open’s prize purse, which has risen to $17 million in all and $3.1 million to the winner but still lags behind the other majors. He said the R&A must balance the here and now against their goal of ensuring the sport is thriving in 50 years.

“If you think about a pie and that is the financial economic value of golf, and a part of that goes on development, a part of it goes on employing people and a part of that goes into development of the game,” Slumbers said. “What we’re really talking about in the whole of this is getting the balance between particularly the prize money and the investment into the game in a way that we can ensure that the pie grows, and if the pie grows, everybody does better. If you reallocate incorrectly within an existing pie, there’s a real danger that the pie will shrink.”

Slumbers, 64, announced in January that this will be his final year in charge at the R&A, as he plans to step down by year’s end.

–Field Level Media