First Look: 11 LIV Golf players set for PGA Championship

The season’s second major takes place this week with the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia. Eleven LIV Golf players are in the field. Here’s the list of players and their primary exemption.

• Bryson DeChambeau – 2024 U.S. Open win
• Thomas Detry – Special exemption
• Tyrrell Hatton – 2025 Ryder Cup competitor
• Dustin Johnson – Special exemption
• Martin Kaymer – Past champion
• Tom McKibbin – Special exemption
• Joaquin Niemann – Top 15 of 2025 PGA Championship
• David Puig – Special exemption
• Jon Rahm – 2023 Masters win
• Cameron Smith – 2022 Open win
• Elvis Smylie – Special exemption

KEY STORYLINES

Current season-long points leader Jon Rahm and his closest pursuer, Bryson DeChambeau, have each won two tournament titles this season, with DeChambeau winning in back-to-back starts via playoff in Singapore and South Africa

Rahm has won in Hong Kong and Mexico City as he heads toward a potential third consecutive season-long Individual Championship

Rahm and DeChambeau are among four LIV Golf players with multiple major wins who are in action; the other two are Dustin Johnson and Martin Kaymer

Kaymer, the 2010 PGA championship, is the only LIV Golf player competing this week as a past champion

Five players are competing after receiving special exemptions from the PGA of America – two-time major winner Dustin Johnson and world top 100 players Thomas Detry, David Puig, Elvis Smylie and Tom McKibbin

Puig, Smylie and McKibbin are among the group of emerging young under-25 stars on the LIV Golf roster, with Smylie winning in his LIV Golf debut in this year’s season opener in Riyadh

The league’s youngest captain, 27-year-old Joaquin Niemann of Torque GC, hopes to build on his T8 finish in last year’s PGA Championship – his best result in 26 major starts

Phil Mickelson is automatically exempt as a two-time PGA Championship winner but opted to withdraw doe to family health issues

Seven of the league’s 13 teams are represented, with Legion XIII (3 players), 4Aces GC (2 players) and Ripper GC (2 players) having multiple representatives

Fitting for the World’s Golf League, eight different countries are represented by the 10 players – Australia (2), Belgium, Chile, England, Germany, Northern Ireland, Spain (2) and the United States (2)

Five of the 11 players have previous experience at Aronimink, having competed in the 2018 BMW Championship; DeChambeau produced the best finish, a tie for 18th at 12 under

SPECIAL INVITES FOR LIV GOLF PLAYERS

In the days leading up to this year’s PGA Championship, five LIV Golf players received a special invitation to join the field of 156 players who will compete in golf’s second major of the season at Aronimink Golf Club.

Each one hopes to make the most of the exemption by hoisting the Wanamaker Trophy as PGA champion on Sunday.

Four of those players were inside the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking when the field was determined – David Puig (58), Thomas Detry (63), Elvis Smylie (89) and Tom McKibbin (100). The PGA of America generally issues exemptions to any player inside the top 100 at the cutoff date for finalizing the field.

The fifth special exemption was issued to 4Aces GC Captain Dustin Johnson, a two-time major winner and LIV Golf’s first season-long individual champion in 2022.

McKibbin obviously made it on the number – and the 23-year-old from Northern Ireland is keen to capitalize on the opportunity.

“It’s pretty cool” said McKibbin, who is among three members of Legion XIII (along with captain Jon Rahm and veteran Tyrrell Hatton) headed to Aronimink. “I played last year as well, and I think to sort of do it two years in a row with not having the availability of many world ranking points and to stay around that 100 number has been pretty good. I think the consistency of the golf that I've played has been nice, sort of being in a spot to be able to qualify for some of those events.

“It's always nice to get to play another major. They're definitely the events that you want to be playing, and every time you can tick one off, it's a great learning experience. I always sort of leave learning more and more about my game and what I need to get better for the future.”

Puig and Smylie are each 24 years old. Smylie won LIV Golf Riyadh in his league debut in February, while Puig finished solo second to Rahm at Mexico City for his best result in the league. Both players are inside the top 10 in the season-long points race.

The 33-year-old Detry, who like Smylie is also in his first LIV Golf season, ranks fourth in season-long points after Maaden LIV Golf Virginia, with three top-5 finishes in the last five tournaments. He’ll be making his 14th major start and his fifth in the PGA Championship. His best major result is a T4 two years ago at the PGA held at Valhalla.

“I went to Aronimink last week just on a quick trip on Wednesday,” Detry said. “So, I scoped out the golf course. Just a major. My strategy at majors is sort of to just keep the same routine as in a normal tournament and treat the major as if it was a normal tournament. I feel like you're already beating half the field because some of the people are sort of shooting themselves out of the field by putting too much pressure on themselves.”

Despite being ranked 468th in the world, Johnson was extended an exemption that keeps his streak alive of 69 consecutive majors in which he’s been eligible to play. He has six top-10 finishes at the PGA Championship, including consecutive runner-up results in 2019-20.

“I’ve been qualified for every major for a long time,” said Johnson, “so yeah, definitely very excited to play. The PGA of America, we’ve got a great relationship. I’ve supported them for a long time. I’m very, very grateful that they gave me an invite. Very honored. The game’s good enough where I feel like I can definitely compete.”

EXPERIENCE AT ARONIMINK

Five LIV Golf players in this week’s field competed at Aronimink Golf Club when it hosted the 2018 BMW Championship. Their results:

• T19 – Bryson DeChambeau
• T24 – Jon Rahm
• T24 – Dustin Johnson
• T29 – Tyrrell Hatton
• T65 – Cameron Smith

Said Rahm: “What I remember of that event at Aronimink was it was extremely wet. We had a lot of rain. From what I hear, it hasn't rained here in quite a while, and the golf course is already firm.”

Added Johnson: “Looking forward to going back there. I'm sure it's going to be in really good shape. It's going to be a great week.”