‘Definitely pushing’: Major move for LIV players

Nine months into the biggest golfing move of his life, Lucas Herbert remains adamant his shift to LIV Golf was the best decision he’s made and says there are parties “definitely pushing” to address the lone standout issue and create paths back to the majors for his tourmates.

But while the golf world wrestles with where LIV sits in the future landscape, Herbert said the Saudi-backed breakaway could have inadvertently opened the door for better fields more often at Australia’s biggest events having debunked the myth about making long journeys to play.

LIV brought big-time golf back to Australia via the mega-successful event in Adelaide, and after shifting the 2025 event from April to February will play in Hong Kong and Singapore, making plane trips south of the equator a must for the large cohort of players so used to being locked into the northern hemisphere.

Herbert, who along with his fellow Australians in the US have been permanently selling the virtues of playing events like the Australian Open, said the short LIV schedule and constant long travel were “in our favour” of getting more stacked fields for the summer of golf.

“The ability to get down to Australia to play one or two events becomes a lot more reasonable for them,” Herbert said from the US on Thursday.

“Guys want to win the Australian Open, I think that that event carries a lot of prestige with it. You’ll hear guys talk about it in in press conferences, and they aren’t lying.

“But when the priorities come down to it, I just think it’s hard to justify for them when they’re playing a full schedule to come down. So I think with a lighter schedule, guys have got more of a chance to come down.

“I think with LIV as well, seeing the ability to travel throughout the world and it not being as hard as maybe some guys think. The Americans aren’t known for getting on a long flight and being patient enough to sit on there for 15, 16 hours straight.

“So a few of them doing that in the last couple of years with LIV and seeing that it’s not that bad, and when you do finally land, it’s a pretty awesome experience out in Australia. I do think we’ve got a great chance to get some more players down and ultimately give the Aussie public much stronger field in our events and feel like we’re more connected to the golf world.

“We can feel like we’re a long way away on a very lonely island.”

Herbert, the former world No.40, wants to find a way back into the other strong events around the world, the majors, sitting among some of the best players in the world at LIV who didn’t bring major qualifications when they gave up membership of the US PGA Tour and DP World Tour to join the breakaway tour.

As a made-for-TV showdown featuring LIV stars Brooks Koepka and Bryson de Chambeau against the PGA Tour’s best in world No.1 Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy was locked in for Las Vegas this year, the fervour to see the best going up against each more regularly was confirmed.

That’s why Herbert, who knew what he was getting into when he took the sign-on cheque to join LIV, says the world rankings are no longer the best measure for major qualifications.

He said spots in the majors earnt by other tours and events, including the Australian Open, which guarantees British Open spots for the top three finishers, should be an opportunity afforded to LIV players to ensure they have the best fields possible.

“I know both sides are definitely pushing for it and have a vested interest in getting that to happen,” he said.

“We’ve still got two of the majors (British and US Opens) being 36-hole qualifiers to get in and that is a viable option at this point.

“And I think it’s been a great way for smaller events around the world, in the grand scheme of things, to get better fields and better access to these world-class players when an event like the Australian Open, with three spots into the Open Championship for the following season, all of a sudden that becomes a much bigger priority on the schedule than maybe it was two or three years ago.”