Chile’s Joaquin Niemann believes the LIV Golf tour will have its own route into the four men’s major championships next year and the top-10 players in the standings should be granted exemptions.
Currently, LIV Golf players have no way of qualifying for the four majors, unless they go through qualifying for the US Open and Open Championships.
Niemann played in three this season, missing out on the US Open after he had received invites into the Masters and PGA Championship while his place in last week’s Open Championship was secured after he won the 2023 Australian Open.
LIV Golf 2023 winner Talor Gooch only played in one major this season and that was a special invite into the PGA Championship.
“I believe that it’s going to happen. I feel like they’ve got to pull for the best of the game, and I think that’s the right way to do it, hopefully give us some spots out here on LIV and have the best players in there,” said the Chilean who was once ranked 15th in the world but has slipped to 110.
“But yeah, I feel like there’s also different pathways that I can probably take to get into, but ideally it would be nice for LIV and for the game that they have some spots for us.
“I would say top 10 guys. There’s definitely 10 guys, top 10 guys here that could win majors, and yeah, they can definitely give those 10 spots for us and have more competitive majors.
“It’s frustrating, but at the end, I feel like I’m pulling hard for LIV Golf to improve, and I think that would be one of the ways that the game and LIV would improve.”
The 25-year-old is going to continue to be resourceful as far as finding a route into next year’s majors is concerned. He is free to play on the DP World Tour towards the end of the year and plans to earn enough world ranking points to climb back towards the top-50 in the Official World Golf Rankings while Open Championship exemptions will be up for grabs at the Australian Open again.
Niemann is also ranked 13th in the Race to Dubai after back sign up his Aussie win with a runner up finish in Dubai in January.
“From my side personally, I feel like I’m going to find a way to be in the majors, so it doesn’t frustrate me or put me out.
“If I can go and they let me play, I will definitely try to go because I feel like — obviously I would like not to go and just be on LIV and get those spots, but the only reason — if I’m able to go and play on DP World it’s because of the majors and try to get my way in.
“If I’m free to go and play the DP World I might go and play because I’m pretty high on the rankings on the DP World. If I’m able, if they let me do it, I’ll try.”