There had been growing doubts over whether the US would be at full strength for their revenge mission against Europe after the obscure loophole that allowed Koepka to play in 2023 closed.
By RIATH AL-SAMARRAI, CHIEF SPORTS FEATURE WRITER
Published: 14:23 EDT, 19 September 2024 | Updated: 14:45 EDT, 19 September 2024
Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka will be eligible to play in the Ryder Cup next year after the body overseeing the United States team rewrote their rules to lift restrictions on LIV golfers.
There had been growing doubts over whether the US would be at full strength for their revenge mission against Europe after the obscure loophole that allowed Koepka to play in 2023 closed earlier in the summer.
But the PGA of America – a separate entity to the PGA Tour – has moved to improve Keegan Bradley's hand for Bethpage Black next September by announcing on Thursday that LIV rebels are now clear to play.
They also confirmed golfers on the breakaway circuit will retain access to the US PGA Championship, though the barriers to automatic qualification remain high in the absence of ranking points on LIV.
A statement read: 'To ensure the PGA Championship will continue to deliver the strongest field in golf and that the US Ryder Cup team will continue to have access to the best American players, the PGA of America board has determined that LIV Golf players will be eligible for both.
Brooks Koepka (left) and Bryson DeChambeau look set to represent the USA at the Ryder Cup
Europe won the last edition of the Ryder Cup, beating the USA by five points in Rome
'Going forward, all LIV Golf players are eligible for the PGA Championship and any American player who qualifies for the Ryder Cup on points or is added to the US team as a captain's pick is eligible to compete.'
In the wake of LIV's launch in 2022 it had been feared that those who defected, including Cup stalwarts Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed, would be ineligible to compete in Rome last year.
But it later emerged that those who had paid their annual PGA of America fees prior to June 2022 would be covered by a 'grace period' that ran until June of this year.
Under that provision Koepka was able to play in a losing US team last autumn and the expiration of that membership had called into question if Bradley could rely on a number of his big hitters in 2025.