USGA Announces Exemptions For LIV Golf Into U.S. Open
As LIV Golf gets ready for its third full season of play and first year on FOX Sports, there have been exemptions given to Joaquin Niemann and Sergio Garcia for the PGA Championship this year, Niemann also earned a special exemption into the Masters. There were still questions as to whether LIV Golf would have a direct pathway to any of the majors. The USGA today announced that LIV would get exemptions starting with the 2025 U.S. Open.
According to a news release from the USGA in regards to the 2025 U.S. Open, “a full exemption will be awarded to the top player who is not otherwise exempt and in the top 3 of the 2025 LIV Golf Individual Standings as of May 19, 2025.”
Also, a local exemption will be awarded to the top 10 players from LIV’s Individual Standings as of April 7th, which is the day after LIV Miami, and the Monday of Masters week. Moving forward, the exemptions will stay the same with a similar timeline. There will also be an exemption for the top 10 players from the Final 2025 LIV Golf Individual Standings that earn a local exemption into the 2026 U.S. Open. This means that the players that earn a local exemption, bypass local qualifying and go directly to the 36-hole final U.S. Open qualifying.
This is another big step for LIV, as they are starting to get some return on their investment. If you take the top 10 from last year’s Individual Standings, there are a lot of familiar names that are already exempt into a lot of, if not all, of the majors. Jon Rahm won the Individual Championship, Joaquin Niemann was second, Sergio Garcia came in third, Tyrrell Hatton, who’s been playing really good golf, was fourth, and Brooks Koepka rounded out the top five. Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau have each won majors in the last three years were in the top 10, so clearly, the talent is there.
A player like Dean Murmester, who doesn’t have a major championship but finished ninth last year in the LIV Golf Individual Standings, has a much easier chance of qualifying for the U.S. Open. This might also encourage the golf fan who doesn’t follow LIV closely to pay closer attention to the LIV Golf Individual Standings leading up to the U.S. Open.
If things shake out the way they did last year, this change won’t affect too many players, with a lot of them already earning exemptions one way or another into the Championship. However, it is a validating moment for LIV Golf, and their fans, and who knows if other majors will follow suit.
LPGA Announces New Pace Of Play Rules
Pace of play has been a hot topic in golf lately. It’s always been an issue, but lately, it’s gotten out of hand. In women’s professional golf, we’ve seen rounds last over six hours in major championships, and in men’s professional golf, the final group at The Farmers Championship took almost six hours to finish.
According to Ryan French who runs Monday Q Info on X and MondayQ.com, the LPGA sent a notice to their members that changes are taking place starting on March 27th at The Ford Championship in Phoenix, Arizona. The changes will be, penalties for being one to five seconds over time to hit a shot will be a fine, six to 15 seconds over time will be a one-stroke penalty, and 16 seconds or more will be a two-stroke penalty.
The first player to hit on par 4’s and par 5’s won’t receive an additional 10 seconds to hit unless it’s a reachable par 4. The first to hit on par 3’s, approach shots, and putts still get the additional 10 seconds.
The notice also said that under the previous policy for the 2024 season, 22 players were fined and nine players received a two-stroke penalty. They said if the new policy were in place for the 2024 season, 23 players would’ve received a one-stroke penalty and eight would’ve received a two-stroke penalty. That’s assuming the players didn’t react accordingly to the rule changes and the enforcement of penalties.
These changes are worth momentarily pausing your day, standing up, and applauding the LPGA wherever you are.
This is what the sport needs in both the men’s and women’s professional games. Rounds are taking way too long, and now broadcasts are growing frustrated with the slow pace of play. Dottie Pepper, a major winner on the LPGA, called out the pace of play on a CBS broadcast for the PGA Tour recently, which took the debate from social media and thrust it into a more burning topic.
The LPGA has faced extreme pace of play issues, with Charley Hull and Nelly Korda calling for enforcement of pace of play rules and harsher penalties for slow play.
When the stars of the game, regardless of the sport, are getting frustrated and start going public with their concerns, that’s when change typically occurs, or at least is taken more seriously. The only other way for rapid change to occur is for viewership to significantly drop and/or for fans to boycott events.
Hats off to the LPGA for introducing these rule changes, and hopefully the pace of play will speed up. There’s no excuse for professionals to play six-hour rounds, anywhere.
Kultida Woods, Mother Of Tiger Woods, Passes Away At Age 80
When it comes to the parents of Tiger Woods, many talk of the militaristic-style golf training Tiger’s father, Earl Woods, put him through. Earl put Tiger through the gauntlet of golf training that no one has seen before and since. When Earl passed away in 2006, Tiger teed it up a month later at the 2006 U.S. Open, where he missed the cut for the first time at a major in over a decade. He bounced back in the 2006 Open Championship one month later, where he won by two strokes over Chris DiMarco in an emotional win. Tiger embraced his caddie, Stevie Williams, for an extra moment after holing his par putt on the 72nd green at Royal Liverpool Golf Club. In his famous Sunday outfit of a red Nike shirt parlayed with black pants, the unflappable Woods let it all out. It was a side of Tiger no one knew existed. Earl passed one year before Tiger’s first child, Sam, was born. Sam was given her name as a tribute to Earl, who called Tiger “Sam.” Tiger’s second child, a boy, Charlie, was born two years later.
There has been a lot of change in the life of Tiger. However, two things stayed constant throughout his life. Golf, and his mother, Tida. Tida has been by Tiger’s side, supporting her son through everything. Whether it was driving him around California to junior tournaments, or seeing him win three straight U.S. Junior Amateur Championships, followed up by three straight U.S. Amateur Championships. Whether it was his inconceivable 12-stroke win at The Masters in 1997 or his incomprehensible comeback to the top at the 2019 Masters, Tida was there, smiling for it all.
Tida was also there for Tiger’s darkest moments. When he held his famous press conference after the cheating scandal on his then-wife Elin Nordegren, his arrest in 2017 for DUI, his near-fatal car crash in 2021, all the surgeries he went through, the various rehabs, and countless moments behind the scenes.
Tida was the driving force behind Tiger wearing his famous Sunday red shirt, which is the title of his clothing brand, Sun Day Red. Tiger, whose astrology sign is a Capricorn, was suggested red as his “power color” by Tida when Tiger was a youth golfer. Tiger at first wore red and won some tournaments. As Tiger got older, he wore blue to “spite” his mother and didn’t perform as well in those junior tournaments. Tiger eventually obliged and went back to red, and stuck with it for 82 PGA Tour wins, 15 major championships, and one hell of a career.
When Tiger was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in March of 2022, his daughter, Sam, gave a magnificent speech about her father, brother, grandfather she had never met, and her grandmother. Tiger looked on with a smile bigger than any golf tournament he’s ever won. When it was Tiger’s turn to give his speech, he began to speak of his childhood and the sacrifices Earl and Tida made. He paused, choked up, and the emotions came out while looking directly at Tida, whose smile lit up the room. Like Tiger always does, he powered through.
In a statement Tiger released yesterday, he said, “Mom was a force of nature all her own, her spirit was simply undeniable. She was quick with the needle and a laugh. She was my biggest fan, greatest supporter, without her none of my personal achievements would have been possible.”
Earl gets a lot of the credit for the molding of Tiger Woods, but Tida deserves as much credit for everything she did subtly. Without her, there’s no Tiger. Without Tiger, who knows where golf is?
We often forget that these athletes are human. They seem like superhero figures when fans are rooting for them, particularly when those athletes do things, that only a small number of people can pull off. Sometimes, only they can pull off whatever their achievement is. Even more credence to the theory that they are superhuman. But, yes, they are human.
After the 2019 Masters, CBS ran videos back-to-back-to-back of Tiger hugging his only son Charlie in 2019, moments after clinching his fifth green jacket. Then CBS showed Tiger, a then 21-year-old, hugging his father, Earl, in nearly the identical spot 22 years prior, after his first Masters triumph. CBS then showed Tiger and Charlie once more.
Tida was there in both instances, smiling, proud, and joyful. She was always there, whether on the grounds or represented by Tiger’s Sunday red, she was there.
She always will be.
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