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How each of these 16 LIV golfers got into 2024 PGA Championship field

Sixteen LIV Golf stars will tee it up at Valhalla, so here is how they gained entry into this year’s PGA Championship.

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For only the second time this season, PGA Tour and LIV Golf professionals will tee it up side-by-side at the PGA Championship .

Golf fans everywhere welcome that, as golf’s great schism has accomplished only one goal to date: elevate the importance of the four major championships.

Anyway, 16 players from the Saudi-backed circuit will play this week at Valhalla , all of whom qualified in a different fashion.

We explain how each player did so below, while also ranking each LIV golfer in the field:

1. Brooks Koepka

Exemption: past champion (2018, 2019, 2023).

Brooks Koepka arrives at Valhalla as the defending champion, having won his fifth major title at Oak Hill a year ago. He recently won a LIV Golf event in Singapore , proof that his game is rounding into form at the right time.

2. Jon Rahm

Exemption: 2023 masters champion.

Although Jon Rahm has not yet won a LIV Golf event, nobody should count out the two-time major champion this week. He has the game to thrive at Valhalla, a course that places a premium on distance and accuracy off the tee. Rahm can play in the PGA Championship through 2027 thanks to his win at Augusta National last year.

3. Joaquin Niemann

Exemption: special invite.

Joaquin Niemann started the LIV Golf season with fireworks, firing a 59 at Mayakoba to launch up the leaderboard. He went on to win that week and also won a LIV Golf event in Jeddah in March. In addition, Niemann triumphed at the Australian Open this past December, finished in a tie for fourth at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January, and then finished solo third in Oman in March. Hence, the PGA of America invited Niemann to compete this week.

4. Bryson DeChambeau

Exemption: 2020 u.s. open champion.

Bryson DeChambeau gained access to the 2024 PGA Championship by way of his U.S. Open triumph at Winged Foot in the middle of the pandemic. But his 5-year exemption into this championship is running out. His bomb-and-gouge strategy could come in handy this week at Valhalla, so perhaps he contends for a second straight major.

5. Cameron Smith

Exemption: 2022 open champion.

One of the best putters in the world, Cameron Smith, won the Claret Jug at St. Andrews two years ago and can play in the PGA Championship through 2027. He has the game to contend anywhere and most recently tied for sixth at Augusta National.

6. Tyrrell Hatton

Exemption: top 15 finish at 2023 pga championship.

Thanks to a final round 3-under 67 at Oak Hill a year ago, Hatton made this field with a top-15 finish. But he would have gained entry a couple of other ways, too. He played in the Ryder Cup and the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) has him as the 18th-ranked player in the world. Jumping from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf in January—along with his top 10 finish at Augusta—has kept his solid ranking intact.

7. Dustin Johnson

Exemption: 2020 masters champion.

Like DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson’s exemption into this championship is running out. His victory at Augusta in the fall of 2020 awarded him entry into the PGA through 2025, so he must win another major to extend it. Unfortunately for him, his game has not looked sharp lately.

8. Adrian Meronk

Adrian Meronk , the reigning DP World Tour Player of the Year, received a special invitation from the PGA of America to compete this week. He tied for 40th in his PGA Championship debut one year ago and hopes to improve upon that mark at Valhalla.

9. Phil Mickelson

Exemption: past champion (2005, 2021).

Luckily for Phil Mickelson , he does not have to worry about whether or not he can play in the PGA Championship. He will always have an invite. But the one major he will have to worry about is the U.S. Open, where he has finished runner-up a record six times. His exemption into that championship expires in 2026.

10. Talor Gooch

Talor Gooch missed the cut at both Oak Hill and Royal Liverpool a season ago. But his strong play on LIV Golf led the PGA of America to invite him back for his fifth straight PGA Championship appearance. His best finish came in 2022, when he tied for 20th in his native Oklahoma.

11. Dean Burmester

Dean Burmester, who hails from South Africa, won twice in his home country in late 2023 and then triumphed again at LIV Golf Miami in April. His two wins at the Joburg Open and the Investec South African Championship led the PGA of America to invite him. Burmester will make his eighth career start in a major.

12. Lucas Herbert

Before Australian Lucas Herbert tied for 40th at Oak Hill last year, he won the ISPS Handa Championship in Japan. He has not won anywhere since, but because he jumped to LIV Golf at the beginning of the season, his world ranking has not completely plummeted. Currently ranked 90th in the OWGR, the PGA of America invited Herbert to Valhalla, where he will play in his sixth straight PGA Championship.

13. Patrick Reed

Patrick Reed finished in solo fourth at the International Series Macau on the Asian Tour in March and then tied for 12th at Augusta National the following month. He also tied for fourth at the 2023 Masters and capped off the calendar year with a strong finish at the Indonesian Masters.

14. David Puig

David Puig has made it a priority to play all over the world as much as he can. The extra effort and travel have paid dividends, as the Spaniard won the International Series Singapore this past October and then conquered the Malaysian Open in February. Since then, Puig has recorded three top-10 finishes on the Asian Tour and two top 15s on LIV Golf. This week will mark his first start at the PGA Championship.

15. Andy Ogletree

Exemption: top 3 international federation ranking.

Andy Ogletree earned a spot on LIV Golf this season because he finished atop the Asian Tour standings in 2023. That also put him among the top three of the International Federation Rankings, a separate criteria the PGA of America uses to determine the field for its championship. Like Puig, the 2024 PGA Championship will be Ogletree’s first.

16. Martin Kaymer

Exemption: past champion (2010).

After missing the cut in four straight PGA Championships, Martin Kaymer missed last year’s edition at Oak Hill for undisclosed reasons. Nevertheless, Kaymer is back in the field this week by way of his victory at Whistling Straits in 2010.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

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The Masters and LIV Golf

Masters 2023: What you need to know about LIV Golf and Augusta National

Patrick Reed won the 2018 Masters and was congratulated by Sergio Garcia, the previous year's champion.

Robert Beck

AUGUSTA, Ga. — This time last year, Augusta National and Masters Chairman Fred Ridley took a neutral stance against the prospect of a Saudi-led golf league, a concept that seemed in doubt after Phil Mickelson seemingly torpedoed the endeavor with his bombastic comments. “Our mission is to always act in the best interest of the game in whatever form that may take,” Ridley said at the 2022 Masters. “I think that golf is in a good place right now. There’s more participation, the purses on the professional tours are the highest they’ve ever been. We’ve been pretty clear in our believe that the world tours have done a great job in promoting the game over the years. Beyond that, there’s so much that we don’t know about what might happen or what could happen, I can’t say much more beyond that.”

But a Saudi league is no longer a concept but something very, very concrete that has torn the professional fabric of men’s golf in two. The sport’s civil war has touched nearly all aspects of the game, and that includes Augusta National. To catch you up to speed, here is what you need to know about the connection between the Masters and LIV Golf.

RELATED: Inside the LIV Golf-PGA Tour battle

Are LIV Golf members allowed to play in the Masters?

Though the PGA Tour considers the Masters an official event, the tour has no jurisdiction over the field or how the tournament is run, allowing those banned by the tour to play at Augusta National.

How many LIV players are in the 2023 Masters field? A total of 18: Phil Mickelson, Charl Schwartzel, Bubba Watson, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Smith, Mito Peirera, Joaquin Niemann, Abe Ancer, Thomas Pieters, Harold Varner III, Jason Kokrak, Kevin Na, and Louis Oosthuizen. Only Smith, the reigning Open champion, is list on the pre-tournament interview schedule.

So Augusta National is OK with LIV Golf?

Wouldn’t go that far. In a statement last December, Ridley wrote, “Regrettably, recent actions have divided men’s professional golf by diminishing the virtues of the game and the meaningful legacies of those who built it.”

However, while Ridley said he was “disappointed” in these developments, “our focus is to honor the tradition of bringing together a preeminent field of golfers.”

“Therefore, as invitations are sent this week, we will invite those eligible under our current criteria to compete in the 2023 Masters Tournament,” Ridley said.

Can LIV Golf members compete in the Masters in perpetuity?

Not quite. Ridley added a caveat to this statement, writing, “As we have said in the past, we look at every aspect of the tournament each year, and any modifications or changes to invitation criteria for future tournaments will be announced in April.” Possible alterations to the field’s exemption categories is expected to be one of the areas addressed by Ridley during his annual pre-Masters press conference on Wednesday.

How would LIV Golf members be excluded from future Masters?

There are a few routes. The first would be to stick with the current criteria, which—assuming LIV Golf fails to receive accreditation from the Official World Golf Ranking—would eliminate roughly half the LIV Golf competitors from the field. In place of the OWGR exemptions, the Masters could use the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup rankings, the DP World Tour Race to Dubai standings and other money/point lists for respective tours around the world.

The second could be a closer alignment with the PGA Tour. The Masters could announce it will mirror the tour’s criteria for field eligibility, meaning those suspended by the tour would be banned from competing in the Masters. This option would allow the Masters to ban previous Masters winners—such as Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia and Bubba Watson— from the tournament should the club decide to do so. The third is, well, the club could just not invite LIV Golf members to compete because the Masters is an invitational, and the club is beholden only to itself. However, that would be extreme, given the circumstances.

What circumstances?

Ridley and Augusta National were named in the antitrust lawsuit brought by Mickelson and other LIV members against the PGA Tour, with LIV players claiming the club tried to persuade golfers not to join the Saudi-backed circuit. “Augusta National, the promoter of The Masters, has taken multiple actions to indicate its alignment with the PGA Tour, thus seeding doubt among top professional golfers whether they would be banned from future Masters Tournaments," the lawsuit reads. "As an initial matter, the links between the PGA Tour and Augusta National run deep. The actions by Augusta National indicate that the PGA Tour has used these channels to pressure Augusta National to do its bidding. For example, in February, 2022 Augusta National representatives threatened to disinvite players from The Masters if they joined LIV Golf.”

The complaint says that the PGA Tour urged Augusta National officials to attend a PGA Tour Advisory Council meeting in May, shortly after the formal launch of the LIV Golf Invitational Series. The suit says they did attend and “they informed the golfers in attendance that the PGA Tour and Augusta National had agreed to work together to address LIV Golf. As described above, the threat of exclusion from the Masters (and the other Majors) is a powerful weapon in the Tour’s arsenal to deter players from joining LIV Golf.”

The claim goes further with this reference to behind-the-scenes actions from Ridley: “In addition, Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley personally instructed a number of participants in the 2022 Masters not to play in the LIV Golf Invitational Series. Plainly, these threats to top players served no beneficial purpose, as they would only serve to weaken the field in the Masters.” The suit says that Ridley declined a request from LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman to meet and formally discuss the launch of the series and its business model. He also, according to the claim, called Asian Tour CEO Cho Minn Thant along with R&A Chief Executive Martin Slumbers “to threaten consequences relating to the Asian Tour’s position in the current ‘ecosystem’ if the Asian Tour continued to support LIV Golf and its LIV Golf Invitational Series.”

Wouldn’t this make Augusta National want to ban LIV Golf members?

Possibly, except Augusta National is also involved in an antitrust probe by the Department of Justice.

According to a Wall Street Journal report last October, the antitrust investigation—initially spurred by LIV Golf accusations against the tour—roped in golf’s other governing bodies and entities into the probe. In July, players’ agents received inquiries from the DOJ’s antitrust division regarding laws about participating in non-tour events and the tour’s actions related to LIV. The tour has countersued LIV, asserting that the case is not about unfair competition—“if anyone is competing unfairly, it is LIV, not the tour”—and accuses the LIV-backed lawsuit as a “cynical effort to avoid competition and to freeride off of the tour’s investment in the development of professional golf.”

LIV Golf has also accused the club and its members from attempting to dissuade the DOJ from its investigation. However, the DOJ’s investigation has itself been under scrutiny, with members of Congress questioning why the department has inserted itself into the matter. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) has pushed the DOJ to investigate if LIV violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act for its ties to the Saudi government.

So, again, why is LIV Golf invited?

Given the lawsuit and antitrust probe, disinviting LIV Golf members could put the club in a tough spot on both of those fronts.

Anything else?

Given the shots Fred Couples has dished out at Mickelson and other LIV Golf members, the Champions Dinner could be frosty. And though the U.S. Open and Open Championship were conducted following LIV Golf’s launch, the Masters will be the first major since the inception of the lawsuit, which could lead to some awkwardness in the locker room.

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Masters Tournament Will Let LIV Golf Players Compete in 2023

The decision by Augusta National Golf Club is an interim victory for the upstart circuit, but other troubles loom.

By Alan Blinder

Augusta National Golf Club will allow members of the breakaway LIV Golf league to compete in the Masters Tournament, the first men’s golf major of 2023.

The decision by the private club, which organizes the invitational tournament and has exclusive authority over who walks its hilly, pristine course each April, is an interim victory for LIV, the upstart operation bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to much of the golf establishment’s fury.

“Regrettably, recent actions have divided men’s professional golf by diminishing the virtues of the game and the meaningful legacies of those who built it,” Fred S. Ridley, Augusta National’s chairman, said in a Tuesday statement. “Although we are disappointed in these developments, our focus is to honor the tradition of bringing together a pre-eminent field of golfers this coming April.”

But the approach announced by the club on Tuesday — continuing to rely on qualifying categories that often hinge on performances in PGA Tour competitions or other majors, or on certain thresholds in the Official World Golf Ranking — threatens to limit access for LIV players as more years pass, which could ultimately make it more difficult for LIV to attract new golfers.

Ridley said Augusta National evaluates “every aspect of the tournament each year, and any modifications or changes to invitation criteria for future tournaments will be announced in April.”

LIV declined to comment on Tuesday.

The organizers of the British Open, the P.G.A. Championship and the U.S. Open have not said how or whether they will adjust their 2023 entry standards in the wake of LIV Golf’s emergence this year. Augusta National, though, has now offered what could be a template for LIV’s short-term relationships with the major tournaments.

Augusta National, for instance, did not abandon its tradition of offering past winners lifetime entry into the tournament, a reprieve for the six LIV players who have already earned green jackets: Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Charl Schwartzel and Bubba Watson. Recent winners of other majors will still qualify for the 2023 Masters, clearing the way, for at least a little longer, for players like Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Cameron Smith.

And Augusta, which has become entangled in the Justice Department’s antitrust inquiry into men’s professional golf, will continue to admit players who are in the top 50 in the world rankings at certain times.

The world ranking system is a weapon that is as subtle and technical (and disputed) as it is consequential and, for some golfers, determinative. LIV players do not currently earn ranking points for their 54-hole, no-cut events, and they have fallen in the rankings as other golfers have kept playing tournaments on eligible tours. In July, LIV applied to be included in the rankings, and more recently, it partnered with the MENA Tour, which is a part of the system, to try to keep its players in the mix.

But the board that oversees the rankings includes golf executives whose reactions to the breakaway series have ranged from skeptical to hostile, and the group has not embraced LIV’s requests. If major tournaments like the Masters continue to use world ranking points as a qualifying method, at least some players will see their entry prospects evaporate. A sustained reliance on PGA Tour events as other qualifying avenues will also stanch access for LIV players.

Whether LIV golfers can play the majors may be crucial to the upstart’s prospects in the years ahead. Beyond golfing glory, major championship winners earn heightened public profiles, and they are more likely to attract lucrative sponsorship arrangements. If LIV’s players face extraordinary constraints on their chances simply to reach a major tournament field, much less to win the competition, the league may have trouble recruiting new players.

The possibility of exclusion from the majors was enough to warrant a brief legal spat over the summer, when the LIV players Talor Gooch, Matt Jones and Hudson Swafford asked a federal judge to order their participation in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs. Gooch, Jones and Swafford had all failed to qualify for the 2023 majors through other means, and their lawyers warned that keeping them from the playoffs would probably end their chances at doing so. Heeding the arguments of the PGA Tour, which said that “antitrust laws do not allow plaintiffs to have their cake and eat it too,” the judge turned back their request .

Augusta National’s decision on Tuesday, fleeting as it might ultimately prove, is still a milestone for LIV, which has not signed a television contract or attracted marquee sponsors. Those symptoms of trouble have only deepened concerns about the long-term viability of the new tour, which many critics regard largely as a means for Saudi Arabia to sanitize its reputation as a human rights abuser. Last week, the circuit acknowledged that its chief operating officer, who was widely seen as integral to its business ambitions, had resigned.

In recent months, Greg Norman, LIV’s chief executive, urged major tournaments to “stay Switzerland” and allow his circuit’s players to participate.

“The majors need the strength of field,” Norman, a two-time British Open victor and three-time runner-up at the Masters, said last month. “They need the best players in the business. They want the best competition for their broadcasting, for their sponsors, all the other things that come with it.”

But LIV stands to benefit, too. A victory in a major by one of its players, LIV supporters have said, would give the circuit greater legitimacy.

“If it is a LIV player who wins a major next year,” Norman said, “that goes to show you how we work within the ecosystem.”

Alan Blinder is a sports reporter. He has reported from more than 30 states, as well as Asia and Europe, since he joined The Times in 2013. More about Alan Blinder

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Augusta National Announces Decision on LIV Golfers Competing in 2023 Masters

• Author: Gabrielle Herzig

On Tuesday, via a statement from Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley, the Masters Tournament announced that it will invite all eligible players under the event’s current criteria, including LIV Golf members. 

“Regrettably, recent actions have divided men’s professional golf by diminishing the virtues of the game and the meaningful legacies of those who built it,” Ridley wrote. “Although we are disappointed in these developments, our focus is to honor the tradition of bringing together a preeminent field of golfers this coming April.”

As the Masters criteria currently stands, 16 LIV Golf members will be invited to play at Augusta National come April. Those players include six past winners of the major championship: Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson , Patrick Reed, Charl Schwartzel and Bubba Watson.

Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, and Joaquin Niemann will also receive invitations, despite the fact that they joined the Saudi-backed rival league. Smith, DeChambeau and Koepka are all eligible via major championship victories in the last five years.

Lastly, LIV members Talor Gooch, Harold Varner III, Jason Kokrak, Kevin Na, Abraham Ancer and Louis Oosthuizen are all currently ranked in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), meaning they will be invited to Augusta as well. Oosthuizen qualified on the number at No. 50. Gooch is eligible both through world ranking and as a player who qualified for the previous year’s season-ending Tour Championship, which he was not permitted to compete in.  

The OWGR is expected to stay the same until the start of the new year. 

Although Ridley’s letter explained that Augusta’s invitation criteria will not change for 2023, it did note that changes for future Masters Tournaments would only be announced in April. Traditionally, these changes are announced the Wednesday before the major championship during Ridley’s annual press conference. 

“As we have said in the past, we look at every aspect of the tournament each year, and any modifications or changes to invitation criteria for future tournaments will be announced in April,” Ridley wrote. 

“We have reached a seminal point in the history of our sport. At Augusta National, we have faith that golf, which has overcome many challenges throughout the years, will endure again,” he continued.

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Bubba Watson drags Augusta National further into LIV-PGA Tour battle

Through the entire LIV Golf/PGA Tour battle of 2022, Augusta National has done what it always does in the long months between the awarding of one green jacket and the arrival of the next spring: remained silent behind its Washington Road gates while the world moved on outside.

But the battle enveloping the golf world has now crested the ivy-covered walls around Augusta National. Speaking before LIV’s fourth event, scheduled this weekend outside Boston, two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson all but dared Augusta National to take action, one way or another, on the LIV defectors who jumped ship from the PGA Tour.

The timing of LIV’s emergence — after the Masters and the PGA Championship, but before the U.S. Open and the Open Championship — meant that the latter two majors had to address the issue, and did so by upholding their commitment to players who had earned their way in. Augusta National did not need to make any comment, given that its tournament was already past, and has not responded to inquiries from media organizations, including Yahoo Sports.

Watson has a lifetime exemption to the Masters, as do fellow LIV players/Masters champions Dustin Johnson , Phil Mickelson, Charl Schwartzel, Patrick Reed and Sergio Garcia . In all, LIV players have won seven of the past 13 Masters, which presents a challenging situation for Augusta National, devoted as it is to its ethos of producing the best possible tournament every year.

“For me, it’s a weird situation being a Masters champion,” Watson said. “Right now, we can play in it, and I'm hoping and praying they make the right decisions.”

And then he took it to another level. “I sat my kids down and told them there is a possibility we can't go to Augusta,” Watson added. “If they [the powers that be at Augusta National] tell me I can’t go, [even being a] past champion, then I don't want to be there anyway because that's just the wrong way to look at it.”

Mickelson’s lawsuit drew in Augusta National

Augusta National does not like being pushed around, not by changing times, not by sponsors and partners, not by former champions. But the LIV controversy is bringing new attention to the quiet Georgia club, first with Phil Mickelson’s absence earlier this year, and more recently with Augusta National’s appearance in Mickelson’s lawsuit against the PGA Tour .

“Augusta National, the promoter of The Masters, has taken multiple actions to indicate its alignment with the PGA Tour, thus seeding doubt among top professional golfers whether they would be banned from future Masters Tournaments,” Mickelson’s lawsuit read. The suit further charges that “the PGA Tour has used [existing] channels to pressure Augusta National to do its bidding. For example, in February, 2022, Augusta National representatives threatened to disinvite players from The Masters if they joined LIV Golf.”

The suit further charges that Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley “personally instructed a number of participants in the 2022 Masters not to play in the LIV Golf Invitational Series.” That’s a rather different portrayal of the way that Ridley characterized LIV in his public comments in April.

“Our mission is to always act in the best interest of the game in whatever form that may take,” Ridley said in April. “I think that golf is in a good place right now. There’s more participation, the purses on the professional tours are the highest they’ve ever been. We’ve been pretty clear in our belief that the world tours have done a great job in promoting the game over the years. Beyond that, there’s so much that we don’t know about what might happen or what could happen, I can’t say much more beyond that.”

How the Masters field is determined

While much of the Masters field is drawn from the players who rank in the world top 50 shortly before each year’s tournament, the Masters’ own criteria offer a few other ways for LIV players to play their way into the field. Past champions, of course, have a lifetime exemption, and high performers at the other three majors earn exemptions of varying lengths. (Winners get five years; top-four finishers get one.)

For instance, LIV’s Cam Smith, under current qualifying rules, would be eligible to play in the Masters from next year through the 2027 tournament on the basis of his 2022 Open Championship win. Several U.S. amateur winners, like Andy Ogletree and James Piot, have jumped to LIV; they were entitled to one Masters tournament the year after their victory.

Augusta National maintains the right to invite players at its own discretion; these invitations generally go to notable international players. Winners of all PGA Tour events get invitations to the next Masters, as well, but not LIV events.

Even so, LIV is now dealing from a position of strength, and the players understand it. Several this week have repeated the same mantra: LIV has a stable of strong players, majors claim they want the strongest fields, ergo majors have to include LIV players .

“The No. 2 player in the world (Smith) is now here,” Watson said. “So if you're going to try to see the best players in the world, then you should have World Ranking points (for LIV) because these are the best players in the world here, just like everywhere else across the world.”

“We earn our place in the majors and if they want to see real competition, they have to have the top players,” Joaquin Niemann added. “That's why the majors are there.”

Augusta National tends to keep an almost-invisible profile until such time as it can control the narrative, so — barring a decision on LIV’s world rankings status — a statement from the club prior to next spring is unlikely. At that point, however, the club will find itself exactly where the PGA Tour has spent the last few months: right in the middle of the fight over golf’s future.

Contact Jay Busbee at [email protected] or on Twitter at @jaybusbee.

Scheffler's surge, LIV Golf's encore and more Masters storylines

Michael Collins discusses Scottie Scheffler's chances as the heavy favorite at the Masters. (1:04)

• Senior college football writer
• Author of seven books on college football
• Graduate of the University of Georgia
• Paolo Uggetti

The 88th playing of the Masters arrives at a precarious moment in golf: Its defending champion has since departed for the Saudi-backed LIV Golf League, its greatest winner not named Jack Nicklaus has played only five full rounds of golf this year, and the sport's overall ecosystem remains fractured and its future uncertain.

Yet once the first tee shot is hit Thursday, all eyes will be on the best players in the world navigating the sport's most historic venue over 72 holes.

From the favorites to the newcomers to the way the course is playing, here are six storylines to watch at Augusta.

What will the LIV Golf League do for an encore?

A year ago, any doubt about LIV Golf League players being able to compete in the major championships after playing 54-hole tournaments with loud music probably was put to rest. Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka tied for second at the 2023 Masters, then Koepka won his fifth major at the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York.

Defending Masters champion Jon Rahm , who jumped to the LIV Golf League in December, is one of 13 LIV Golf players in the field.

Read more: Jon Rahm wants LIV-PGA Tour unity, but 'it's not up to me'

LIV Golf captain Sergio Garcia , the 2017 Masters champion, insists everyone is getting along fine.

"I mean, you guys love these things," Garcia said. "You keep building up these things, and there's nothing. There's nothing. You guys love to kind of dig and just kind of try to make it sound like we get in the locker room and we're fighting each other and stuff like that. It's not like that. At the end of the day, it's golf. We're all trying to play the best way we can, and that's it."

Eyes on the first-timers

Only one first-timer has slipped on a green jacket at Augusta National Golf Club since 1935: Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979. Reigning U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark and Sweden's Ludvig Åberg aren't your typical Masters first-timers -- they're ranked fourth and ninth in the Official World Golf Ranking, respectively.

Clark has won three times since May and finished second to Scottie Scheffler at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship.

"I mean, stats like that are meant to be broken," Clark said. "I know it's a tall task. It's a challenging golf course. There's a bunch of good golfers. With that said, you have to still bring your game, so it's not like you can just flip a switch and win it.

"But, yeah, that would be an amazing accomplishment, and I like my chances. I really like myself on this golf course. I feel good on a lot of tee shots and approaches, and there's so much creativity, so I feel good coming into the week."

Aberg, 24, already has seven top-10s in 23 starts on tour, including a victory at the RSM Classic in November. The former Texas Tech star said he wasn't aware that a first-timer hadn't won the Masters in 45 years until a reporter mentioned it Tuesday.

"It's a tricky balance, because obviously I'm feeling all the first-time feelings that everyone's feeling, but I'm also trying to be OK with all those things coming at me at the same time," Aberg said. "Because I think once you start fighting it, once you start trying to push it away, I think that's when it becomes tricky."

There are 20 first-timers at the Masters this year, such as Akshay Bhatia (who grabbed a Sunday invitation by winning the Valero Texas Open), Nick Dunlap and Jake Knapp . Dunlap became the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event since Phil Mickelson in 1991 by capturing the American Express in January before he turned pro.

Scheffler's dominance

There is a certain aura of inevitability following Scheffler around these days that hasn't been true of a golfer since the days of Jordan Spieth in 2015, Rory McIlroy in 2014 and Tiger Woods for many years before that.

The way Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world, has been playing as of late, it feels like he is more likely to win his second Masters by multiple strokes than finish outside the top 10. Scheffler already has two wins this season, including at the Players Championship, and seven top-10 finishes.

He is, by all accounts, the player to beat this year and perhaps the best ball striker since Woods himself -- no one is gaining more strokes this season than Scheffler, and he's first in tee-to-green and approach shots.

It's not just Scheffler's ability to consistently be near the top of the leaderboard that's impressive, but it's also the way in which he has shown he can win even when he doesn't have his best stuff.

Scheffler, for his part, isn't leaning into any storyline that positions him as a Goliath of any kind, even if his statistics indicate that, and even if a win this week would only add fodder to such a comparison.

"I try not to look too far into the future," Scheffler said. "I think it's just one of those deals where all I'm trying to do is put myself in contention in the tournament and hopefully finish it off. I really am not looking much past tomorrow. I'm focused on my preparation right now. And those things don't really occupy many of my thoughts day-to-day."

For a 27-year-old, Scheffler appears to be hyper-aware of the fickle nature of the sport even given his dominant run. It's why he has leaned on this adage: Golf doesn't define him; it isn't who he is. It's just what he does.

"I happen to be good at it some weeks, and, you know, I come in here and you guys ask all nice questions," Scheffler said. "And then the next week I'm bad at it, and then some of the questions are viewed more negatively. And that's just kind of the ebb and flow of competing in front of people all the time."

Whatever the first three days look like, it is likely that come Sunday, Scheffler -- should his improvement in putting after switching to a mallet continue -- will find himself with a real shot at his second green jacket. And even if it won't change who he is, a win would further cement his status as the best player in the game.

Hovland's big changes

Norway's Viktor Hovland won back-to-back FedEx Cup playoff events at the end of the 2022-23 season, including the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, which came with an $18 million bonus.

Hovland, 26, was ranked No. 4 in the world at the end of last year. He has finished in the top-10 in three of the past five majors, including a tie for seventh at the 2023 Masters.

After all that success, why would Hovland make significant changes to his swing? He parted ways with swing coach Joe Mayo, who helped him turn around his short game, and has been working with both Grant Waite and Dana Dahlquist the past couple of months.

"I'm still kind of looking for some opinions out there, but I feel like I'm on a good track right now and we'll see where that takes us," Hovland said Tuesday. "But, yeah, I mean, it's one of those things. Like, I was playing great golf last year, but it's not like I'm trying to change my golf swing. It's just sometimes the game of golf, you try to do the same every day, but then things aren't the same every day when you go to the golf course."

After helping the European team run away with a 16½-11½ victory at the Ryder Cup in Rome in late September, Hovland played in just one official event, tying for second in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in mid-November.

When Hovland returned to the PGA Tour at the start of the 2024 season, his swing wasn't the same. He didn't have a top-10 finish in his first five starts on tour and still seems to be searching for answers.

"I took a huge break after last year and when I came back, things were a little bit different," Hovland said. "I had to kind of find my way back to where I think I'm going to play my best golf. And even at the end of the last year, I still felt like, yeah, I was playing great, but I got a lot out of my game and it didn't necessarily feel sustainable. But it's not like I consciously went in and said, 'Hey, we're going to change everything up.'"

Augusta at its best

Even before tournament week began, the chatter in the lead-up to the Masters centered around the course being in incredible shape. Having now been on the grounds for a few days, it doesn't take an agronomist or a professional golfer to be able to tell that Augusta's fairways and greens are showing out, more so than usual. That being said, let the players explain it:

"The course is very firm," Xander Schauffele said. "I think it's in incredible shape. It's probably some of the best shape I've seen it in previous years, to be honest."

"The golf course is stunning," Fred Couples said. "It's firm and fast, and it's really, really nice."

"When we came up here last weekend, it was in perfect shape," Tiger Woods said. "And it's only gotten better, which is hard to believe, but it has."

Having experienced an inordinate amount of bad weather at this event in recent years, it appears that the tournament is due for a good stretch of days this week. The only potential hiccup will be Thursday, as the forecast shows potential thunderstorms and rain showers throughout the morning into the afternoon as well as winds ranging from 10 to 20 mph.

"Obviously can't do much about the weather the rest of the week," Justin Thomas said. "But I'm sure that everybody on the greens staff is very, very pleased with where the golf course is at."

Despite Thursday's forecast, the golf course's current state should hold up well throughout the weekend, when the sun will reemerge and likely continue to dry out a golf course that only gets more challenging in such conditions.

"I was hitting 5-irons that were coming into par-5s that were bouncing, tomahawking over the green, and I was like this is pretty cool, it's been a while," Schauffele said. "And when this property plays that way, you're in full team mode with your caddie trying to figure out if you're middle of the fairway, you can be aggressive; but if you're not in the right place, you're playing to certain spots and trying to leave yourself an uphill putt even if it's 12 feet versus a 4-footer that's downhill."

Another record on tap for Tiger Woods

Despite withdrawing early Sunday during last year's tournament due to an injury that led to ankle surgery, Woods extended his streak of made cuts at the Masters to 23 in a row, tying the record for most made cuts at Augusta previously held by Gary Player and Couples.

Woods arrives at the Masters having played fewer rounds of competitive golf than he did last year, but the belief he could win -- and make a record-breaking 24th straight cut in the process -- is still there.

"I think it's consistency, it's longevity, and it's an understanding of how to play this golf course," Woods said of the record. "That's one of the reasons why you see players that are in their 50s and 60s make cuts here, or it's players in their late 40s have runs at winning the event, just the understanding of how to play it."

Read more: Tiger says Masters win can be his if 'everything comes together'

Woods' institutional knowledge at Augusta is second to none given his history and success at the course. And while Woods said his body aches every day and he wasn't ready to perform at any other tournament since his early withdrawal at Riviera due to sickness, he's hoping that his familiarity with the course will help him overcome any physical limitations.

"You still have to go out and execute it, but there's a lot of knowledge that goes into understanding how to play it," Woods said. "The overall configuration of how [greens] roll and how they move and the angles you take, that hasn't changed. That's the neat thing about this. I can still go through the mental Rolodex and bring out a few putts from the '90s that still move generally in that direction and the effect that Rae's Creek has on certain shots and putts. And it means a lot."

As golf's civil war rages, all the top PGA Tour and LIV players are at the Masters this week

Jon Rahm, of Spain, walks to the 10th green during a practice round in preparation for the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Augusta, Ga. Credit: AP/Matt Slocum

AUGUSTA, Ga. — In some ways, golf finds itself at a point in time not unlike pro football in the 1960s, when two rival leagues duked it out but found a path to reconciliation that produced a game far bigger than anyone could've envisioned.

Bryson DeChambeau, for one, is hopeful that the still-smoldering split between the established PGA Tour and upstart LIV Golf could lead to a Super Bowl-like extravaganza that brings everyone together.

“You can look at it like the NFL and you could have NFC-AFC sort of working in their own fields and at the end they come together, put on a huge event at the end of the year,” said DeChambeau, who plays on the LIV circuit. “That could be really cool.”

If nothing else, major championships such as the Masters, which begins Thursday at Augusta National, provide a brief detente in this civil war of the links.

All the top players — from reigning Master champion Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka representing Team LIV to world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy teeing it up for the old guard — will be looking to not only claim a green jacket, but score bragging rights for their de facto team.

“Obviously, the more togetherness that you get, the better it is for everyone. There’s no doubt about that,” said Sergio Garcia, the 2017 Masters winner who bolted for LIV. “But there’s room for everyone. I don’t think that’s a problem at all.”

Even though LIV appears to have strengthened its hand with its stunning signing of Rahm, who was on the PGA Tour when he won at Augusta a year ago, there are actually five fewer players from the new tour than the 18 who played in 2023.

Brooks Koepka hands over his club on the second hole during a practice round in preparation for the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Augusta, Ga. Credit: AP/Ashley Landis

That's largely because LIV events — with their smaller fields and 54-hole format — do not receive world ranking points, one of the main conduits for entry into the Masters.

Still, the Saudi-funded circuit has demonstrated that its top players can compete with the best of the PGA Tour.

Koepka and Phil Mickelson were runner-ups to Rahm a year ago at the Masters, and Koepka went on to capture his fifth career major title at the PGA Championship. Of the 27 major championships that have been staged since the beginning of 2017, 13 were won by golfers who now call LIV home.

Koepka took issue with those who say the split is ruining the game.

Bryson DeChambeau hands his driver to his caddie on the eighth hole during a practice round in preparation for the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Augusta, Ga. Credit: AP/Ashley Landis

“Look, the best players in the world never got together week in, week out. I think that’s kind of forgotten,” Koepka said Tuesday. “It was the majors, (World Golf Championship tournaments) ... those were pretty much the 10 events where everyone was, for sure, going to be there. And then it was just kind of sprinkled in everywhere else. I think that’s kind of how it is" now.

But hard feelings remain, especially since a supposed merger agreement announced 10 months ago had yet to be finalized.

Just listen to Fred Couples, the 1992 Masters champion and outspoken critic of LIV.

“I don’t think I’ll ever understand it,” he said. “Now, everything can get better. But let me tell you, if the LIV tour is better for golf, I’m missing something there.”

Rahm acknowledged that when he accepted a reported $350 million offer to join LIV in December, he was hopeful that it would spur the two sides to reach some sort of reconciliation by the time the Masters rolled around.

Now, with a divide that seems as gaping as ever, he's one of the most prominent faces on a tour that has been called everything from the future of the game — with its shotgun starts and team element — to a refuge of sellouts who are helping the Saudis sportswash the image of a repressive regime.

“It’s a bit of a detour on my path,” Rahm said. “But change can be better.”

Just how much things have changed was apparent from the attire he donned a year ago as he departed Augusta National to what he picked out for his practice rounds leading into this Masters.

Gone was the green jacket. Now he's wearing a shirt emblazoned with a Legion XIII logo.

The team he now leads in LIV.

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LIV Golf-Augusta National feud heats up in latest round of legal filings

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Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley speaks during his annual press conference held during Masters week.

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Even in the depths of winter the golf hot stove has remained warm thanks to multiple legal clashes. Recent court documents filed by the PGA Tour and LIV Golf show how intertwined (or not!) the fight in pro golf’s upper ranks has been.

According to court documents released Monday, LIV Golf’s lawyers have served subpoenas to six current or former PGA Tour policy board directors as well as former commissioner Tim Finchem. Buried in a joint statement between LIV and those directors were allegations lobbed by LIV against various members of Augusta National, which seems to be one of LIV’s new focuses. One of the initial requests included in each subpoena to those members was an overarching demand: 

Please produce “All Communications between You and any member of Augusta National relating to a New Tour, including but not limited to LIV Golf.”

Much of the allegations in the statement remain confidential, but ANGC members Condoleezza Rice — the former Secretary of State — and Warren Stephens were listed by LIV as having “apparently attempted to influence the DOJ (Department of Justice) to not investigate the [PGA] Tour.” Whether or not that is true — the complaints flying back and forth are highly contested by each side — the DOJ has launched an investigation into the PGA Tour for potential anti-competitive practices, as it has also done with both the USGA and Augusta National. 

While many of the allegations in the documents were redacted, LIV continued to characterize the Tour’s work as an “us or them campaign,” adding, “Indeed, the threat of a change in relationship with Augusta’s members was used as a stick to discourage one of the top golfers in the world from joining LIV.”

The lawsuit is an antitrust case wherein LIV has accused the PGA Tour of organizing a “group boycott” with other governing bodies like Augusta National, the DP World Tour, the PGA of America, the USGA and the R&A. Within its initial complaint, LIV alleged that representatives from Augusta National launched an anti-LIV campaign , threatening to disinvite LIV players from future Masters tournaments if they joined the upstart league.

The PGA Tour policy board directors collectively made their case as well in the joint statement. The group is Ed Herlihy (policy board chairman), Mary Meeker, Mark Flaherty, Randall Stephenson, former director Victor Ganzi and former commissioner Finchem. (Meeker’s name led the statement because she is a California resident, where the lawsuit has been filed.) LIV’s theory that the Tour “seeded doubt” among top golfers that they’d be banned “is entirely baseless as demonstrated by the fact that the Masters has allowed LIV golfers to compete in the 2023 Masters,” the subpoenaed party statement read. It was just one month ago that Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley announced that any players already qualified for the 2023 tournament would be invited to play.

Just because LIV has served subpoenas to these Tour-adjacent people doesn’t mean they will receive all of the documents they desire. As part of the joint statement, LIV’s reduced its initial request for communications from the Augusta National membership of “approximately 300” to a narrower list of 21 individuals and the Masters Tournament Committee.

The policy board directors think that list is is still too broad, requesting in the documents that the group further be trimmed to just 11 names. The 11 that both sides have agreed upon are Ridley, Will Jones, Casey Coffman, Steve Ethun, Buzzy Johnson, Taylor Glover, Pat Battle, Terry McGuirk, Brian Roberts, Kessel Stelling and Lee Styslinger. Four of those are ANGC employees and seven are members. Among the others on LIV’s choice list: Rice, former chairman Billy Payne and new policy board director Jimmy Dunne. 

LIV’s list is too broad, the directors argue, because many members of the Masters Committee do not hold positions of any relevance to the case. Many of them handle issues like Masters concessions, tee and hole locations, parking and traffic, etc. They note that much of the evidence LIV cites is because “there are many people who dislike LIV Golf, LIV’s Saudi backers and what they stand for, and that some of those individuals have chosen to share their personal opinions about LIV with professional golfers and others.”

So, where does it leave us? Judge Susan van Keulen will be expected to rule soon on just which Augusta National members can be included in the discovery efforts via the subpoenas. And just because they’ll be included does not mean the lawsuit will be loaded with communication documents. Augusta National and its members are famously tight-lipped about all operations involving the club. 

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Zak is a writer at GOLF Magazine and just finished a book about the summer he spent in St. Andrews .

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How to watch PGA Championship 2024 Day 2 | FREE live stream, time, TV, channel for Tigers Woods, other golf stars

• Updated: May. 17, 2024, 7:07 a.m. |
• Published: May. 17, 2024, 7:00 a.m.

Tiger Woods wits to play as Neal Shipley looks on on the fourth hole during final round at the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club Sunday, April 14, 2024, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) AP

• Cayden Steele | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

The 2024 PGA Championship continues on Friday, May 17, 2024 (5/17/24) at the Valhalla Golf Club, in Louisville, Kentucky.

The tournament concludes on Sunday, May 19, 2024 (5/19/24).

Fans can watch a majority of the action throughout the tournament for free via a trial of fuboTV and DirecTV Stream .

Here’s what you need to know:

What : 2024 PGA Championship

When : Thursday, May 16, 2024 - Sunday, May 19, 2024

Where : Valhalla Golf Club

Time/TV schedule, via Golf.com

Friday, May 17: 1-8 p.m. (ESPN); 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (ESPN2 Alternate telecast)

Saturday, May 18: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. (ESPN); 1-7 p.m. (CBS)

Sunday, May 19: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. (ESPN); 1-7 p.m. (CBS)

Channel finder: Verizon Fios , AT&T U-verse , Comcast Xfinity , Spectrum/Charter , Optimum/Altice , Cox , DIRECTV , Dish , Hulu , fuboTV , Sling .

Live stream: fuboTV and DirecTV Stream

AP PGA Championship story:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The attention starts building weeks, if not months, ahead of the one major keeping Rory McIlroy from the career Grand Slam, the most elite club in golf. It’s like that every year, and it doesn’t make it any easier when he gets to the Masters.

Jordan Spieth should be able to appreciate the feeling. Except that he really doesn’t.

Now that McIlroy missed again at the Masters — his 10th straight attempt at getting the final leg — Spieth is next up with an opportunity to become only the sixth player in history to capture all four professional majors.

It feels like an afterthought going into the PGA Championship.

Scottie Scheffler tries to extend his dominance with a second straight major. Brooks Koepka is the defending champion and coming off a LIV Golf win in Singapore. Jon Rahm turned in a dud at the Masters and curious eyes will want to see at Valhalla if that was an aberration.

Oh yes, and Spieth goes for the career Grand Slam, a feat achieved only by Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen.

“These things, like winning a career Grand Slam, they happen kind of when I think there’s less focus and less of a spotlight on him,” said Jim Nantz of CBS, who has covered every PGA Championship since 1991. “And I think Jordan goes into this week without a whole lot of discussion about that possibility coming up at Valhalla.

“So maybe it is favorable in that sense mentally.”

Spieth isn’t surprised the attention is not that high, certainly not at the level McIlroy has faced the last decade each time he heads to Augusta National.

One reason is his game, which has not been great. Spieth has gone just over two years since he last won a tournament and has had only a few close calls since then. He comes into the PGA Championship having missed the cut in four of his last five tournaments that had a 36-hole cut.

“He’s got more accolades,” Spieth said about the Slam hype between him and McIlroy. “He’s been a better player over his career. Maybe that creates a little noise. He’s been a bit more vocal about it himself, so maybe that makes a little bit more difference.”

The other reason is the Masters, the only major held on the same course every year.

Sarazen is the only player with the career Grand Slam who completed it at Augusta National. But that was in 1935, long before the Masters was considered a major and 25 years before Arnold Palmer first brought a professional slam into the golf conversation.

McIlroy threw away a chance in 2011 when he lost a four-shot lead in the final round at the Masters. He played in the final group with Patrick Reed in 2018 and didn’t get it done. Reminders are everywhere when he returns.

That isn’t the case for Spieth. He goes to Quail Hollow one year, Bellerive the next. He has had seven cracks at getting the missing piece of the Grand Slam on seven courses.

“For me, it’s like the PGA Championship feels decently similar to a number of tournaments we play,” Spieth said. “I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s played on some of the biggest, best golf courses. But the identity is not the same as the other three. In my mind, you don’t need to find a different way to win, versus guys who don’t have some of the other ones.

“We play a few tournaments a year that could be PGA Championships if you change the branding and the grandstands.”

Only two other players lacked only the PGA Championship for the career slam — Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson.

Jack Nicklaus referenced them last month when speaking of McIlroy’s chances at Augusta.

“Is Tom Watson good enough to win the Grand Slam? Absolutely. Was Arnold Palmer good enough to win the Grand Slam? Absolutely,” Nicklaus said.

He felt the same way about McIlroy before adding, “But they have got to do it.”

Spieth is 30 and would seem to have time on his side — but not history. Sarazen, Hogan and Woods won the final leg in their first attempt. Woods did it in the most spectacular fashion, winning the U.S. Open by 15 shots and a month later the British Open by eight. He was 24.

Player (1965 U.S. Open) and Nicklaus (1966 British Open) completed the Grand Slam on their third attempt after they had captured the third leg.

McIlroy already has had 10 cracks at the Masters since he picked up the third leg. Spieth has had seven tries at the PGA Championship since winning the third leg at Royal Birkdale in 2017.

He said it doesn’t weigh on him, at least not lately.

“I remember thinking about it in ‘17 because it was right after the Open and I was playing so well,” Spieth said. He tied for 28th at Quail Hollow.

He also said he gave the Grand Slam some thought in 2019 at Bethpage Black when he was in the final group going into the weekend with Brooks Koepka. That wasn’t really a fair fight. Koepka set the 36-hole record for majors (128), a record seven shots ahead of Spieth.

“But I don’t feel like it will build up over time, not like people talk about Rory’s building up over time,” Spieth said.

More focus is on a nagging injury to his left wrist that first surfaced right before the PGA Championship last year at Oak Hill. Spieth is trying to manage it. He also is spending more time than he imagined on the phone as part of the PGA Tour Enterprises board trying to figure out the best way forward with the Saudis.

Justin Thomas has two PGA titles — what Spieth wouldn’t do for one — and is surprised why his longtime friend doesn’t get much attention as he pursues the final leg.

“It should be the same amount of attention — you could say more because he’s younger than Rory,” Thomas said. “But that also could be a good thing. Going in under the radar is never bad.”

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How to watch PGA Championship: Live stream rounds 3 and 4 from anywhere

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The PGA Championship heads into its final few days, and it's proving to be a tough competition at the iconic Valhalla Golf Course. Keep reading to learn how to watch the PGA Championship live streams, including cable and recap options.

The tournament officially kicked off on Thursday with Round 1. Round 2 tee times were met with delays following an accident outside the club that resulted in a death. According to a statement on X from PGA of America, a worker with one of the PGA vendors was struck by a shuttle bus and killed. The accident led to some traffic buildup for both spectators and competitors.

Scottie Scheffler, the winner of the 2024 Masters Tournament and a favorite to win this year's PGA Championship, was arrested while trying to drive into the entrance of Valhalla after traffic had been stopped for the earlier collision. Scheffler was later released and has been able to participate in Round 2 of the tournament. 2023 PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka is also participating in the competition this year, along with Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and others.

Keep reading to learn your watch options for the PGA Championship as it heads into the weekend for Rounds 3 and 4. Tournament coverage is spread across three channels/streamers, so we've highlighted ways to access all of them. 

• See also: Where to watch the Italian Open | Where to watch the Giro d'Italia | How to watch the WNBA

How to watch the PGA Championship in the US

Over the weekend, coverage will be split among three channels/streamers. On Saturday and Sunday, ESPN+ will live stream from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. ET, followed by an ESPN broadcast from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET. Then CBS will take over for the rest of the day from 1 p.m. ET.

ESPN+ subscriptions start at $10.99 a month. For Paramount+ , you'll need to select the Paramount+ with Showtime tier, which costs $11.99 a month, to access CBS live streams. ESPN+ doesn't live stream the ESPN channel, so you'll need to try out a live TV streaming alternative to access this portion of the tournament without cable. 

Paramount Plus offers a huge library of on-demand content from Paramount, CBS, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET, and MTV. The Premium Plan also includes Showtime and live CBS streaming. It costs $12 a month or $120 a year

ESPN Plus is a sports subscription service that includes live sports, exclusive video content, and written analysis from ESPN. You can pay monthly or go for an annual deal for $110, which saves you about $22 a year. There's also a triple bundle with Hulu and Disney Plus, which offers an even better discount.

Sling TV is one of the cheaper live TV streaming packages out there, with plans starting at $40 a month. Plus, you can currently get $20 off your first month. You'll need to opt for the Sling Orange plan to access ESPN.

For just the essentials without any extra fluff, Sling TV is the streaming service you're looking for. It's more customizable than other plans, with three options you can choose from, so you pay for only what you need. New members get their first month for $20 off.

If you can't catch any of the action until the evening, Golf Central will air nightly breakdowns and highlights of the day's events via Peacock . These live recaps will start at 8 p.m. ET each night. Peacock subscriptions start at $5.99 a month.

Peacock is a streaming service featuring NBCUniversal TV shows, movies, original series, live sports, and news programs. Prices start at just $5.99 a month on one-month deals, with further discounts available on annual plans.

How to watch the PGA Championship in the UK

Sky Sports is the British home to PGA Championship live streams. You can find other international golf live streams here, like this week's LET: German Masters. Prices and contract lengths vary. 

How to watch the PGA Championship from anywhere

If you'll be traveling away from home during the tournament, you can keep up with your subscriptions via VPN (virtual private network). VPNs can temporarily alter your device's virtual location so that you can access your usual websites and apps from anywhere. They're also solid ways to increase your online privacy. This recommendation will work best for people who are simply traveling away from home right now since the services we've outlined today require country-specific forms of payment. 

Our go-to recommendation is ExpressVPN , which is an easy-to-use option with a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can find more information in our ExpressVPN review and see highlights of the service below:

With its consistent performance, reliable security, and expansive global streaming features, ExpressVPN is the best VPN out there, excelling in every spec and offering many advanced features that makes it exceptional. Better yet, you can save up to 49% and get an extra three months for free today.

Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries, and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

You can purchase logo and accolade licensing to this story here . Disclosure: Written and researched by the Insider Reviews team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our partners. We may receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at [email protected] .

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How all 16 liv golf players fared at the 2024 pga championship at valhalla, share this article.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Another major championship, another event with a LIV Golf player in contention.

Bryson DeChambeau would have won almost any other tournament with his 20 under score over the last four days at the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club, but the bulked-up bomber was beaten by one stroke thanks to a historic 21-under performance from Xander Schauffele .

Of the 16 LIV players to tee it up this week, 11 made the 36-hole weekend cut, with three finishing inside the top 30. On the flip side, five players saw their week end early and slammed the trunk and made their way home. From the top of the leaderboard to the bottom, here’s how all 16 LIV players fared this week at the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla.

Bryson DeChambeau: Runner up, 20 under

Bryson DeChambeau reacts on the ninth green during the final round of the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club on May 19, 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Best previous PGA Championship finish: T-4 (2020, 2023)

Dean Burmester: T-12, 12 under

Dean Burmester of Team Stinger during the final round of the LIV Golf Mayakoba tournament at El Chamaleon Golf Course. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports

Best PGA Championship finish: 54 (2023)

Brooks Koepka: T-26, 9 under

Brooks Koepka tees off on the 12th hole during the first round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Valhalla Golf Club. (Photo: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports)

Best PGA Championship finish: Win (2018, 2019, 2023)

Joaquin Niemann: T-39, 7 under

Joaquin Niemann plays his shot from the 18th tee during the second round of the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club on May 17, 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

Best PGA Championship finish: T-23 (2022)

Lucas Herbert: T-43, 6 under

Lucas Herbert prepares to putt on the eighth green during a practice round for the PGA Championship golf tournament at Valhalla Golf Club. (Photo: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports)

Best PGA Championship finish: T-13 (2022)

Dustin Johnson: T-43, 6 under

Dustin Johnson lines up his putt on hole 12 during a practice round ahead the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club. (Photo: Sam Upshaw Jr./Courier Journal)

Best PGA Championship finish: 2 (2019), T-2 (2020)

Patrick Reed: T-53, 5 under

Patrick Reed lines up a putt on the tenth green during the second round of the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club on May 17, 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Best PGA Championship finish: T-2 (2017)

Talor Gooch: T-60, 4 under

Talor Gooch of Smash GC hits a bunker shot onto the seventh green during the second round of LIV Golf Miami golf tournament at Trump National Doral. (Photo: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports)

Best PGA Championship finish: T-20 (2022)

Tyrrell Hatton: T-63, 3 under

Tyrrell Hatton reacts to a missed putt on No. 18 during the final round of the Masters Tournament. (Photo: Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Network)

Best PGA Championship finish: T-10 (2016, 2018)

Cameron Smith: T-63, 3 under

Cameron Smith tees off on the 11th hole during the first round of the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club. (Photo: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Best PGA Championship finish: Fourth (2023)

Martin Kaymer: T-73, Even par

Martin Kaymer plays his shot from the 11th tee during the second round of the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club on May 17, 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

Best PGA Championship finish: Winner (2010)

Phil Mickelson tipped his hat to the crowd after a birdie during the first round of the 2024 PGA Championship at the Valhalla Golf Club. (Photo: Jeff Faughender/Louisville Courier Journal)

Jon Rahm: Even par

Best PGA Championship finish: T-4 (2018)

Adrian Meronk: 1 over

Best PGA Championship finish: T-40 (2023)

David Puig: 3 over

Best PGA Championship finish: Debut

Phil Mickelson: 4 over

Best PGA Championship finish: Win (2005, 2021)

Andy Ogletree: 6 over

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How all 16 liv golf players have fared so far after two rounds of the 2024 pga championship, tiger woods, jon rahm and ludvig aberg among the notables to miss the cut at 2024 pga championship, 2024 pga championship at valhalla features record purse, first-place prize money, lynch: scottie scheffler’s scandal shows why the pga tour has to look elsewhere for much-needed spice, in pictures: rory mcilroy and wife erica stoll, what some golfers at 2024 pga championship said about scottie scheffler arrest, fatal car crash at valhalla golf club.

Welcome back? As Masters Tournament returns, reaction to LIV players leads the storylines for 2023

If the playing of the 87 th  Masters Tournament is half as interesting as all the lead-in conjecture this week, it will be one that will be remembered for years to come.

As official practice rounds begin Monday morning, storylines are coming from all directions, starting with what could be a contentious Champions Dinner on Tuesday night as six former champions are now part of the controversial LIV Golf tour and expected to be in attendance.

As for the course itself, for the second year in a row, one of the second nine par 5s has been lengthened. This time, it’s the iconic 13 th . It’s a move that has been talked about since Augusta National Golf Club bought land from neighboring Augusta County Club in 2017. This year, it’s a reality.

On the course, it’s one of those years that the top players in the world are peaking at just the right time for the Masters. They are the new Big Three; Defending champion Scott Scheffler, Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy. This is McIlroy’s ninth try to complete the career Grand Slam. He’s coming off his best finish here, a solo second last year thanks to a final-round 64.

When is Tiger Woods playing? Full tee times for 2023 Masters Thursday and Friday rounds

Masters betting: Favorites to win, how many total birdies in past years & other odds

LIV's First Big Moment at Masters? The Champions Dinner

Some former champions, such as Fred Couples, have expressed their displeasure with the breakaway LIV Golf tour. Since last year’s Champions Dinner, six former champions have joined the league and are expected to be in attendance Tuesday night.

That includes three-time champion Phil Mickelson, who skipped the dinner and the tournament last year in the wake of comments critical of the PGA Tour and his support of LIV. He joined LIV in June, and was followed by former Masters champions Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed and Charl Schwartzel.

Scheffler, who will host the dinner as the defending champ, joked with Watson that maybe there should be a separate table for the LIV golfers. Nick Faldo, a three-time champ, joked that perhaps it might be wise to use “plastic knives and forks.”

In all, there are 18 LIV golfers in the Masters field, including four-time major champion Brooks Koepka. All of them have been sensitive to criticism that, because they are banned by the PGA Tour and have only played three events this season (including one in Orlando that ended Sunday), they might have lost their edge. They also play 54 holes tournaments, not the normal 72.

The PGA Tour has banned LIV members from playing its events. But the four majors, including the Masters, are allowing those who qualified to play.

“Most of us will get four cracks at it this year (in the major championships), and hopefully we get maybe a win out of it,” said Cameron Smith, the current British Open champ and LIV’s highest player in the world rankings. “Maybe we just show a really hearty effort. I think for us, internally, there’s a lot of chatter going around about, 'These guys don’t play real golf anymore.' And I think it’s (crap) to be honest. And we just want to show people that."

"I think there is a big rivalry right now between the Tour and LIV," said Joaquin Niemann, another LIV member. "I think there is a lot of players that – I don't know if they don't like us or they don't like the decisions that we take – but it's going to be fun."

"I think it's going to be more fun knowing that they hate us," Niemann said. "Then go to the majors and beat them."

Will Augusta National pair them all together? It’s doubtful. The former champions are normally paired with amateurs. Will the fan reaction be muted?

And what if a LIV golfer wins? That could very well happen, especially since Smith is unquestionably one of the game’s top players. He’s shown he can win here, with top-10 finishes in each of the past three years. He tied for second in 2020, becoming the first golfer in tournament history to break 70 in all four rounds, tied for 10th in 2021 and tied for third last year.

Lucky, or Unlucky, New 13th Hole at Augusta National?

Back to the lengthening of the 13 th  hole. The tee was moved straight back and up the hill 35yards, making it play at 545 yards. It will be more difficult for players to draw their ball around the dogleg right corner on the par-5. That means fewer player will go for the water-guarded green in two shots, and eagles will be rarer. But there were only three there last year.

Last year, when the other second-nine par-5, the 15 th , was lengthened by 20 yards to 550 yards, there was zero eagles recorded.

The change on No. 13 puzzles two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson.

"It will change the hole,” Watson said. “It's now driver (off the tee) and maybe a long iron into the green. Will they take out trees on the bend? That'll determine how much harder it is when it comes to going for it in two. There's probably going to be a lot more lay-ups. A few years ago, they wanted the roars back on Sunday. Now you're taking away the roars? That's kind of weird."

Expert Picks: PGA Championship

Expert Picks

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How it works: Each week, our experts from PGATOUR.COM will make their selections in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf. Each lineup consists of four starters and two bench players that can be rotated after each round. Adding to the challenge is that every golfer can be used only three times per each of four Segments.

Aside from the experts below, Golfbet Insider Rob Bolton breaks down the field at the PGA Championship in this week's edition of Power Rankings .

Betting picks

WILL GRAY (Lead, Fantasy & Betting)

• Winner: Collin Morikawa (+2800) – I’ve been bullish on Morikawa for a few weeks now, and I’m sticking to my guns. The 2020 PGA champ is showing signs of promise once again after reuniting with longtime swing coach Rick Sessinghaus. Not afraid of the stage or moment.
• Top 10: Denny McCarthy (+900) – McCarthy has quietly been playing well this year, highlighted by a playoff loss at the Valero Texas Open and T6 finish last week at Quail Hollow. I also love his form on burly layouts like Muirfield Village (playoff loss last year) which should be a good course comp to Valhalla.
• Longshot: Sepp Straka (+9000) – The big Austrian was a runner-up last year at The Open and finished T7 at last year’s PGA. He’s strong off the tee and has finished T16 or better in each of his last four starts, including T8 last week.
• Head-to-Head (H2H): Rory McIlroy (+135) over Scottie Scheffler – Hi, my name is Will and I’m fading Scheffler in a major. Please send help.

BEN EVERILL (Senior writer, Fantasy & Betting)

• Winner: Rory McIlroy (+750) – I feel like I’ve been swept up on a bandwagon but Sunday forced my hand. For the last month I was setting up to pick Xander Schauffele here but he went and got obliterated by Rory at Quail and I fear that one will leave scars. A decade of woe ends here.
• Top 10: Jason Day (+400) – You could take many other more conservative picks here that should pay but I’m going to back my mate at slightly juicier odds in the major he’s won while he is peaking at the right time.
• Longshots: Jason Day (+5500) – See above. Jason has the length, the short (and shirt) game and the course history … let’s just hope his approach game is dialed in.
• H2H: Rory McIlroy (+135) over Scottie Scheffler – Please send all trolling comments about me fading Scheffler again via Golfbet colleague Matty DelVecchio. He will enjoy it. But I’ve been a new dad before… your mind can’t help but be elsewhere at times. And McIlroy is +135!

CHRIS BREECE (Senior content manager, Golfbet)

• Winner: Ludvig Åberg (+1800) – Everyone is waiting for his big breakout moment. If not for Scheffler, it would have happened at the Masters. On a course where driving the ball long and straight is the biggest key, Åberg has a serious chance to shine. He’s third in Total Driving.
• Top 10: Collin Morikawa (+250) – I’m taking my same pick from last week ... and it looked good until the last three holes. Morikawa was in legit contention for two days at Quail Hollow. Ball-striking is paramount this week.
• Longshot: Will Zalatoris (+6600) – I’m taking the same approach from the Masters when I picked Homa as a longshot (T3 finish). At +5000 and above, who has more talent than Zalatoris?
• H2H: Shane Lowry (+105) over Russell Henley – Lowry’s last five PGA Championships have included finishes of T4/T8/T12. He tends to be at his best at the toughest courses.

MATT DELVECCHIO (Social content manager, Fantasy & Betting)

• Winner: Ludvig Åberg (+1800) – The hype becomes a reality this week where Åberg will break through and win his first major in only his second start. His game fits the course well and he showed a lot of calm down the stretch at Augusta National. I trust he’ll do the same this week, but this time take home the hardware.
• Top 10: Brook Koepka (+150) – Mr. Wanamaker himself is ready to make a run again this year.
• Longshot: Hideki Matsuyama (+5500) – Long approach shots being at a premium seems like a good situation for Matsuyama. If he can get the ball rolling on these green, we will see him late on Sunday.
• H2H: Max Homa over Tommy Fleetwood (-110) – Homa has been in great form as of late and seems poised for another run at a major.

Odds were sourced on Tuesday, May 14. For live odds, visit BetMGM .

Want to see how to set up your PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf lineup? Scroll below.

THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN OUR EXPERTS? The PGA TOUR Experts league is once again open to the public. You can play our free fantasy game and see how you measure up against our experts below.

Joining the league is simple. Just click here to sign up or log in. Once you create a team, click the "LEAGUES" tab. Then click on "FEATURED," and then on the PGA TOUR Experts league that populates.

*Brett Jungles joined the Expert Picks league at the beginning of Segment 1 and did not accumulate any points from the FedExCup Fall.

Golfbet experts longshot: 0-18

For resources to overcome a gambling problem, call or text 1-800-GAMBLER today.

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Tiger Woods to be lone player on negotiating committee with Saudis

Tiger Woods waves after his final round at the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club Sunday, April 14, 2024, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Tiger Woods hits from the bunker on the 15th hole during final round at the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club Sunday, April 14, 2024, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, reacts after making birdie on the 16th hole during the final round of the PGA Zurich Classic golf tournament at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, La., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

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Tiger Woods will be the lone player on a five-member subcommittee that will be involved in negotiations with the Public Investment Fund, part of a busy day of governance as the PGA Tour tries to strike a deal with Saudi backers of LIV Golf.

Woods was appointed to the PGA Tour board in August, making him the sixth player-director and the only one whose board term has no limits.

The tour said Woods will be part of the “transaction subcommittee” on the board of PGA Tour Enterprises that will handle day-to-day negotiations as PIF seeks to become a minority investor.

Also on the subcommittee are PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, board chairman Joe Gorder, John W. Henry of Fenway Sports Group and Joe Ogilvie, a former tour player appointed as a director liaison in March.

The subcommittee reports back to the full board.

The developments capped a day that began with Rory McIlroy losing the inside track on rejoining the board as Webb Simpson’s replacement when board members resisted his return.

“I think there was a subset of people on the board that were maybe uncomfortable with me coming back on for some reason,” McIlroy said at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, where a $20 million signature event is being played.

Simpson had offered to resign, but only if McIlroy were to replace him. When a player director resigns, the other players on the board have to unanimously agree on a successor. McIlroy resigned from the board in November , and the players selected Jordan Spieth to replace him.

The seven players — Woods, Spieth, Simpson, Ogilvie, Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott and Peter Malnati — are on the board of the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Enterprises, the commercial entity that agreed to a deal with Strategic Sports Group as a minority investor.

That deal included a $1.5 billion investment, which could be as much as $3 billion.

McIlroy was willing to return, believing he could help find a solution to the split in golf that has left some of the best players on two tours. McIlroy sees the reunification in some form as the ultimate goal and rubbed players the wrong way when he suggested earlier this year that LIV players return without punishment.

“Today’s news is in no way a commentary on Rory’s important perspective and influence,” Monahan said in a statement. “It’s simple a matter of adherence to our governance process by which a tour player becomes a board member.

“Webb remaining in his position as a member of the policy board and PGA Tour Enterprises board through the end of his term provides the continuity needed at this vital time,” he said. “We are making progress in our negotiations with the PIF.”

McIlroy is certain to stay involved in an unofficial capacity based on his experience of two years on the board and his voice in the game. He was the only European tour member on the PGA Tour board, and McIlroy has cultivated relationships across continents during his career.

He had said on a British soccer podcast at the start of this year that he met with the PIF governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in late 2022 and that he returned home and encouraged the tour board to meet with him.

The framework agreement among the PGA Tour, European tour and PIF was announced June 6, with a deadline to finalize it by the end of 2023. Negotiations continue with little progress.

Woods was among the player directors who went to the Bahamas on March 18 — Monahan and Henry also attended — to meet with Al-Rumayyan.

Woods said at the Masters about that meeting, “I don’t know if we’re closer, but certainly we’re headed in the right direction. That was a very positive meeting, and I think both sides came away from the meeting feeling positive.”

Gorder is the chairman and CEO of Valero, the title sponsor of the Texas Open. He has been appointed the inaugural chairman of the PGA Tour Enterprises board.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf