Bryson DeChambeau has finally received the green light to play in next year’s Ryder Cup.
After weeks of PGA of America prevarication and bizarrely refusing to confirm that members of the LIV Golf League would be eligible for next year’s match, the bungling board eventually met and voted to allow the rebels to be able to compete in the biennial dust-up – either as automatic qualifiers or as wildcards.
Telegraph Sport revealed earlier this week that the delay in granting the wish of captain Keegan Bradley and permitting the players on the Saudi breakaway league to rejoin as PGA of America members – and thus be eligible to represent their country in a match which is not under the governance of the PGA Tour – was causing consternation.
As recently as Wednesday evening, the body which represents more than 27,000 club pros in America and is widely viewed in the industry as being too ineffectual to be in charge of 50 per cent of something as large as the Ryder Cup, declined to specify on the status of DeChambeau and others such as Brooks Koepka.
This ludicrous silence was maintained despite Bradley’s insistence that the LIV players are available, especially if all that it took was a change in regulations. But still nothing was announced. Until, that is, the reports appeared asking why the door had not been officially opened.
“To ensure the PGA Championship will continue to deliver the strongest field in golf and that the U.S. Ryder Cup team will continue to have access to the best American players, the PGA of America board has determined that LIV Golf players will be eligible for both,” it said in a statement released on Thursday.
“Going forward, all LIV Golf players are eligible for the PGA Championship and any American player who qualifies for the Ryder Cup on points or is added to the U.S. team as a captain’s pick is eligible to compete. This is consistent with LIV Golf players competing in the [US] PGA Championship the past two years. Brooks Koepka was a member of the US Ryder Cup team last year.”
The claim concerning the US PGA is laughable and risible. No new categories have been drawn up to include LIV players – they simply had to qualify via already established routes. And as far as Koepka was concerned, even the PGA of America itself did not realise he would be eligible until qualifying for last year’s match was under way.
Originally, it was believed that the five-time major champion was prohibited because of his PGA Tour ban, but a wrinkle was discovered in the regulations and the then US captain Zach Johnson was allowed to select him as a wildcard.
In short, anybody who had paid their yearly PGA dues before June 30, 2022, was in fact, eligible to play in the Italian capital because of an obscure ‘grace period’ that ran to June of this year. However, that loophole has now expired and, presumably, other provisions needed to be made. Except the PGA of America will not say.
This latest farce only serves to add further light to the chaos operating in the supposed corridors of power. Bradley will be relieved, however, as should anyone who wants the Ryder Cup to retain its place as one of the most cherished sporting competitions.
DeChambeau won this year’s US Open and finished second in the US PGA and, barring injury, illness or a catastrophic loss of form, it would be ridiculous if he was not at Bethpage Black. But, despite repeated requests for clarification, the PGA of America has only now confirmed its policy, 12 months before the contest and when qualification is well under way.
