PGA TOUR boss ill after massive announcement

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has taken leave after falling ill in the wake of the merger agreement with Saudi-backed PIF and LIV Golf.

The under-fire Monahan will not be in control of day-to-day tasks while he is “recuperating from a medical situation”, the PGA Tour announced.

A joint statement from Monahan and the PGA Tour’s policy board read: “The board fully supports Jay and appreciates everyone respecting his privacy.

PGA TOUR temporary fill the gap

“During Jay’s absence, Ron Price, chief operating officer, and Tyler Dennis, executive vice president & president, PGA Tour, will lead the day-to-day operations of the PGA Tour with the assistance of the great team Jay has built, ensuring seamless continuity.

“We will provide further updates as appropriate.”

Price and Dennis also released a statement which read: “Our thoughts are with Jay and his family during his absence, and we wish him a speedy recovery.

“We have a strong and experienced leadership team in place and our priority is to support our players and continue the work under way to further lead the PGA Tour and golf’s future.”

The news comes a week after the shock announcement that the PGA Tour and DP World Tour were merging their commercial operations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which bankrolls the breakaway LIV Golf League.

Monahan faced calls to resign at a 75-minute players’ meeting which he described as “intense and certainly heated”.

The 53-year-old accepted that he will be labelled a “hypocrite” for making the deal with the PIF but insisted the players who remained loyal to the PGA Tour – and in some cases turned down enormous pay-outs to join LIV – had made the right decision.

“They have helped re-architect the future of the PGA Tour, they have moved us to a more competitive model,” Monahan said.

There will be precious few South Africans in the year’s third Major – the US Open – as the LIV Golf fallout continues to wreck havoc on the OWGR.

As long as the OWGR continues to ignore players in LIV Golf events, this trend will continue.

Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace and Charl Schwartzel all missed the PGA Championship because they slid down the rankings. None are present in the field as it stands for the US Open.

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Dean Burmester managed to get into the PGA Championship, but he’s not in for the US Open.

So while the Stingers GC players make loads of cash, their days in the Majors are numbered.

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Only Louis Oosthuizen of the LIV Golf crew will make it to The Open. Charl Schwartzel is a previous Masters winner and can play for as long as he likes.

South Africans in this year’s US Open include amateur star Aldrich Potgieter, qualifiers Deon Germishuys and Wilco Nienaber, alongside DP World Tour member Thirston Lawrence. That’s it.

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Christiaan Bezuidenhout is currently ranked 78th in the world and is South Africa’s top-ranked player, but he’s been unable to get into the 2023 US Open to date.

ALSO READ: Koepka wins fifth Major title at PGA Championship

Tiger Woods has officially withdrawn from next month’s US Open at Los Angeles Country Club.

US OPEN PLAYERS (EXEMPT AND QUALIFIED)

Abraham Ancer, 22

Sam Bennett (a), 4

Keegan Bradley, 2, 22

Hayden Buckley, 13

Sam Burns, 11, 22

Patrick Cantlay, 11, 22

Ben Carr (a), 5

Gunn Charoenkul, FQ

Wyndham Clark, 22

Corey Conners, 11, 22

Joel Dahmen, 2

Jens Dantorp, FQ

Cam Davis, 22

Jason Day, 22

Bryson DeChambeau, 1

Alejandro Del Rey, FQ

Wenyi Ding (a), 5

Austin Eckroat, FQ

Harris English, 22

Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira (a), 21

Tony Finau, 11, 12, 22

Ross Fisher, FQ

Matt Fitzpatrick, 1, 2, 11, 22

Tommy Fleetwood, 22

Rickie Fowler, 22

Ryan Fox, 22

Sergio Garcia, FQ

Deon Germishuys, FQ

Brent Grant, FQ

Adam Hadwin, 2

Paul Haley II, FQ

Brian Harman, 11, 22

Padraig Harrington, 3

Tyrrell Hatton, 22

Russell Henley, 22

Lucas Herbert, 22

Tom Hoge, 11, 22

Max Homa, 11, 12, 22

Billy Horschel, 11, 22

David Horsey, FQ

Viktor Hovland, 11, 22

Mackenzie Hughes, 13

Sungjae Im, 11, 22

Ryo Ishikawa, FQ

Dustin Johnson, 1, 6

Martin Kaymer, 1

Si Woo Kim, 22

Tom (Joohyung) Kim, 12, 22

Chris Kirk, 22

Kurt Kitayama, 22

Brooks Koepka, 1, 7, 22

Matt Kuchar, 22

Thirston Lawrence, 15

Hank Lebioda, FQ

K.H. Lee, 11, 22

Min Woo Lee, 16

Shane Lowry, 8, 10, 22

Hideki Matsuyama, 2, 6, 11, 22

Denny McCarthy, 2, 22

Matthew McClean (a), 5

Rory McIlroy, 2, 11, 12, 22

Adrian Meronk, 22

Phil Mickelson, 7

Keith Mitchell, 22

Francesco Molinari, 8

Taylor Montgomery, 13

Taylor Moore, 22

Collin Morikawa, 2, 7, 8, 11

Ryutaro Nagano, FQ

Joaquin Niemann, 11, 22

Wilco Nienaber, FQ

Alex Noren, 22

Matthieu Pavon, FQ

Mito Pereira, 22

Victor Perez, 22

Thomas Pieters, 22

J.T. Poston, 22

Aldrich Poltgieter (a), 18

Seamus Power, 22

Andrew Putnam, 13

Jon Rahm, 1, 6, 11, 12, 22

Patrick Reed, 22

Justin Rose, 1, 22

Xander Schauffele, 11, 12, 22

Scottie Scheffler, 2, 6, 9, 11, 12, 22

Adam Scott, 11, 22

Roger Sloan, FQ

Cameron Smith, 8, 9, 11, 22

Jordan Smith, 15

Jacob Solomon, FQ

Jordan Spieth, 1, 11, 22

Scott Stallings, 11

Sepp Straka, 11, 22

Justin Suh, 14

Adam Svensson, 22

Nick Taylor, 13

Sahith Theegala, 11, 22

Justin Thomas, 7, 9, 11, 22

Aaron Wise, 11, 22

Gary Woodland, 1, 2

Cameron Young, 11, 22

Carson Young, FQ

NOTE: Tiger Woods and Will Zalatoris both qualified for the championship but will not play due to injury.

EXEMPTION CATEGORIES

1. Winners of the U.S. Open in the last 10 years (2013-22)

2. From the 2022 U.S. Open, the 10 lowest scorers and anyone tying for 10th place

3. Winner of the 2022 U.S. Senior Open

4. Winner of the 2022 U.S. Amateur

5. Winners of the 2022 U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Mid-Amateur, and the 2022 U.S. Amateur runner-up (must be an amateur)

6. Winners of the Masters Tournament (2019-2023)

7. Winners of the PGA Championship (2018-2023)

8. Winners of The Open Championship, conducted by The R&A (2018-2022)

9. Winners of The Players Championship (2021-2023)

10. Winner of the 2022 DP World Tour BMW PGA Championship

11. Those players who qualified and were eligible for the season-ending 2022 Tour Championship*

12. Multiple winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation for the FedEx Cup, from the conclusion of the 2022 U.S. Open (June 16-19) to the initiation of the 2023 U.S. Open

13. The top five players in the 2022-23 FedEx Cup standings as of May 22, 2023, who are not otherwise exempt*

14. The points leader from the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour season using combined points earned on the Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season Points List and points earned in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals*

15. The top two players from the final 2022 DP World Tour Rankings who are not otherwise exempt as of May 22, 2023**

16. The top player on the 2023 Race to Dubai Rankings as of May 22, 2023, who is not otherwise exempt**

17. The top two finishers from the 2023 DP World Tour U.S. Open Qualifying Series, who are not otherwise exempt**

18. Winner of the 2022 British Amateur (must be an amateur)

19. Winner of the 2022 Mark H. McCormack Medal (Men’s World Amateur Golf Ranking) (must be an amateur)

20. Winner of the 2023 NCAA D-I Men’s Golf Championship (must be an amateur)

21. Winner of the 2023 Latin America Amateur (must be an amateur)

22. From the current Official World Golf Ranking, the top 60 point leaders and ties as of May 22, 2023

23. From the current Official World Golf Ranking, the top 60 point leaders and ties as of June 12, 2023 (if not previously exempt)

24. Special exemptions selected by the USGA

*Note 1: For Exemptions F-11, F-13 and F-14, players must be considered eligible per PGA Tour regulations at the time the exemption is determined to qualify for the exemption.
**Note 2: For Exemptions F-15, F-16 and F-17, players must be in DP World Tour Membership at the time the exemption is determined to qualify for the exemption.

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