Perhaps the 2023 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool will be the final time there will be a clear distinction between two sets of competitors: those who are in the LIV Golf League and those who are not.
There will be 16 members of LIV Golf in the field this week when the Open begins on Thursday. That’s nearly one-quarter of the entire LIV Golf membership and barring any withdrawals, will tie for the second-most LIV players in one of the four major championships this year.
There were 18 LIV players who qualified for the Masters but two withdrew, Kevin Na and Louis Oosthuizen. The PGA Championship had 17 LIV players and the U.S. Open had 15.
Leading the LIV pack will be four past champions, defending champion Cameron Smith of Ponte Vedra Beach, Phil Mickelson, Louis Oosthuizen and Henrik Stenson.
By the time the 2024 Masters hits the calendar, it’s hopeful that the tentative peace and pending agreement between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (which bankrolls LIV) will have been finalized and its players allowed back on the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.
Until then, LIV players are still barred from playing on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour and have only been able to play on the same course with them in the majors.
Here are the LIV players who qualified for the Open Championship: