LIV Golfers Building Bigger Showing for U.S. Open

In one of two U.S. Open 36-hole final qualifiers held Monday, LIV players had a strong showing and will now have more players in the U.S. Open than the PGA Championship.

Graeme McDowell was one of 16 names to advance to the U.S. Open on Monday. | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

The final push to get into the U.S. Open has begun.

Two 36-hole final qualifiers took place on Monday: One at Walton Heath Golf Club in Surrey, England, and the other at Dallas Athletic Club.

In total, 218 players vied for 16 spots; seven in England and nine in Dallas.

Nathan Kimsey (medalist), Rocco Repetto Taylor, Filippo Celli, Matthew Jordan, Angel Hidalgo, Niklas Nørgaard and Ugo Coussaud all emerged from the Walton Heath qualifier.

The Dallas qualifier had a few more notable names make it through: Peter Uihlein (medalist), Tom Kim, Cooper Dossey, Shah Manav, Jimmy Stanger, Graeme McDowell, Adrien Dumont de Chassart, T.K. Kim and Caleb Surratt.

McDowell is the 2010 U.S. Open champion, but has not played in the championship since 2020. He now competes on LIV, along with Uihlein and Surratt, who emerged from a six-for-one playoff and will make his first major start.

Tom Kim is a three-time PGA Tour winner but has struggled in recent years, falling to No. 141 in the world. This season, he has just one top 10 in 11 starts. He hasn’t missed a U.S. Open since 2021 and finished T8 in 2023 at Los Angeles Country Club.

Dumont de Chassart also holds Tour status and has made 11 starts this year with four top 25s.

Some other notable names, though, missed out on qualifying, such as Sergio Garcia, Joel Dahmen, Jose Luis Ballester, Nick Dunlap, Mackenzie Hughes, Eric Cole, Abraham Ancer, Branden Grace and Thomas Detry.

A final qualifier at Hino Golf Club in Japan will take place on May 25. Then another 10 will be played on June 8, known as Golf’s Longest Day.

In addition, anyone who moved into the top 60 in the world rankings on Monday after the PGA Championship was added to the field at Shinnecock Golf Club.

In all, 35 players made the cutoff, most notably Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott and Patrick Reed, along with Rickie Fowler, Alex Smalley, Daniel Berger, Nicolai Hojgaard, Kurt Kitayama, Jason Day, Min Woo Lee, Ryan Gerard, Jake Knapp, David Puig, Marco Penge, Michael Kim, Matt McCarty, Nicolas Echavarria, Ryo Hisatsune, Sam Stevens, Ryan Fox, Michael Brennan and Pierceson Coody.

LIV Golf will have at least 13 players in the U.S. Open, up from 11 at the PGA. Lucas Herbert qualified as the highest in the 2026 LIV standings not currently exempt, while Joaquin Niemann earned a spot based on last year's standings. Past U.S. Open winners Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Dustin Johnson are in, as is 2022 British Open winner Cam Smith. Laurie Canter is in via the 2025 Race to Dubai standings, and Tyrrell Hatton and Carlos Ortiz qualified by finishing T4 at last year’s U.S. Open.