Why 7 LIV Golf Players Are Competing at This Week’s PGA Tour Event

Active LIV Golf members will be competing in a non-major championship PGA Tour-sanctioned event for the first time this week.

The field at the Genesis Scottish Open, which begins Thursday at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, includes seven LIV players: Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, David Puig, Laurie Canter, Tom McKibbin, Adrian Meronk, and Victor Perez. 

With a purse of $9 million, the Scottish Open is a popular tune-up event for the Open Championship, which will be played next week at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England. 

The Scottish Open in 2022 became the first tournament to be co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. That means members of both tours are allowed to compete in the event, which allots points to both the PGA Tour’s FedExCup and DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai.

The four majors are each run by independent organizations, which have not placed any bans on LIV players like the PGA Tour has.

The seven LIV players competing are also DP World Tour members. Earlier this year they each received conditional releases to tee it up in conflicting LIV events this season—tournaments on LIV taking place during the same week as a DP World Tour event. They each paid an undisclosed amount of outstanding fines and were able to retain the DP World Tour membership status.

Several former LIV members have played in previous editions of the Scottish Open since 2022, but this marks the first time active members of the league will do so.

While the winner of the Scottish Open—no matter what tour they hail from—will receive $1.62 million and exemptions into next week’s Open Championship and the 2027 Masters if not already qualified, a LIV player would not be granted eligibility on the PGA Tour with a victory. 

However, if a PGA Tour or DP World Tour player wins, they will receive a PGA Tour card through at least the 2027 season.

Rahm, Hatton, and the rest of the LIV contingent will be competing alongside many of the PGA Tour’s top stars, including Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, and Xander Schauffele. 

Former LIV members Brooks Koepka, who is back on the PGA Tour, and Patrick Reed, who will re-join the PGA Tour later this year, are also in the Scottish Open field.