Twenty LIV Golf players are scheduled to go through final qualifying for the U.S. Open over the next two weeks, a last chance to reach the 126th championship at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York. The first stops are Monday at Dallas Athletic Club in Dallas, Texas, and Walton Heath Golf Club in Surrey, England.
The qualifiers will decide a meaningful slice of the remaining places in the 156-player field for June 18-21, and Dallas will carry the biggest load. Fourteen LIV players are entered there alone, including Abraham Ancer, Josele Ballester, Branden Grace, Brendan Steele, Byeong Hun An, Caleb Surratt, Cameron Tringale, David Puig, Graeme McDowell, Harold Varner III, Michael La Sasso, Peter Uihlein, Scott Vincent, Sergio Garcia and Tom McKibbin. The Dallas event will be played on the Jack Nicklaus-designed Blue and Gold courses, a 36-hole sprint that leaves little room to recover from a bad start.
Walton Heath brings a different test and a different kind of history. Three LIV players will try there on a storied heathland course that has hosted the Ryder Cup and multiple European Opens, while the third qualifying site is Hino Golf Club in Japan next Monday, May 25. Together, the three venues form the final route into one of golf’s most demanding tournaments.
The names on the entry list underline why this matters. Garcia arrives after a solo second-place finish at Maaden LIV Golf Virginia, while McDowell is still carrying the memory of his 2010 U.S. Open victory. Vincent is coming off a 10-under 62 in round 3 at Virginia, and Puig said earlier this month, “A lot. I think about it all the time. Playing majors is just amazing.”
That is the appeal of final qualifying for LIV players not already exempt: one day, one chance, and no guarantee that a strong LIV season is enough on its own. Dallas has the largest contingent among the sites listed, which makes it the sharpest single test of whether the breakaway circuit’s names can turn form into a place at Shinnecock Hills. The answer starts Monday, and for most of them it will be decided in just 36 holes.
