Two-time major winner and LIV Golf star Dustin Johnson has been prolonged a special invitation into subsequent weekend’s PGA Championship.
Johnson appeared set to overlook the event after his five-year exemption for profitable the 2020 Masters expired on the finish of final yr. His different major triumph was on the 2016 US Open.
Johnson hasn’t had a top-10 end at a major because the 2023 US Open, and has missed the reduce at six of the ten majors since.
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Johnson was one of many first big-name gamers to defect to the LIV tour in 2022. He has had only one top-10 end from the six LIV occasions this yr.
Dustin Johnson has been given a special invitation into the PGA Championship. Getty
Regardless of his downturn in kind, Johnson stated he was “very excited” to play within the event, to be held on the Aronimink Golf Membership in Pennsylvania.
“I wish to play in all of the majors,” he stated forward of this weekend’s LIV occasion in Virginia.
“I really feel like my recreation remains to be ok to compete with everybody and nonetheless can win. The PGA was good sufficient to provide me an invite. So yeah, I am very, very glad and grateful for that.”
Johnson is a former world No.1 who has been eligible for each major since 2009, and has missed solely three in that point. His presence on the largest tournaments is about to dwindle given his 10-year US Open exemption will expire on the finish of this yr, and he’s not at present eligible for the British Open.
The PGA Championship committee is the least clear in filling the sector for its major, with 33 gamers receiving special invites. Aussie Elvis Smylie, who additionally performs on the LIV tour with Johnson, was one other recipient.
Tiger Woods will even miss the event, as will Phil Mickelson.
Aussie LIV star Elvis Smylie has additionally obtained a special invitation into the event. Getty
Woods not taking part in was anticipated – he was arrested in late February on suspicion of DUI, and later obtained permission from a Florida court docket to go away the USA for remedy. He hasn’t performed a major since 2024.
There are 5 Aussies within the discipline – Smylie, Jason Day, Cameron Smith, Min Woo Lee and Adam Scott.
Full 2026 PGA Championship discipline
Australians in italicised daring
PGA Championship winners (Lifetime exemption)
Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Jimmy Walker, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, Jason Dufner, Keegan Bradley, Martin Kaymer, Y.E. Yang, Padraig Harrington, Shaun Micheel.
Masters champions (5 years)
Jon Rahm.
US Open champions (5 years)
JJ Spaun, Bryson DeChambeau, Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick.
British Open champions (5 years)
Brian Harman, Cameron Smith.
Gamers Championship winners (three years)
Cameron Younger.
Prime three from Federation Rating of the OWGR on April 27
Casey Jarvis, Travis Smyth, Kazuki Higa.
Senior PGA champion
Stewart Cink.
Prime 15 and ties from the 2025 PGA Championship
Harris English, Davis Riley, Taylor Pendrith, JT Poston, Jhonattan Vegas, Ryan Gerard, Ben Griffin, Joe Highsmith, Si Woo Kim, Denny McCarthy, Joaquin Niemann.
Prime 20 from the PGA Skilled Championship
Jesse Droemer, Ben Kern, Michael Kartrude, Tyler Collet, Zach Haynes, Garrett Sapp, Austin Harm, Braden Shattuck, Mark Geddes, Ben Polland, Michael Block, Bryce Fisher, Ryan Lenahan, Jared Jones, Francisco Bide, Chris Gabriele, Derek Berg, Ryan Vermeer, Paul McClure, Timothy Wiseman.
US and European gamers from the 2025 Ryder Cup
Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay, Russell Henley, Ludvig Aberg, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Rasmus Hojgaard, Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry, Robert MacIntyre, Justin Rose, Sepp Straka.
PGA Tour winners relationship to the 2025 Charles Schwab Problem
Ryan Fox, Aldrich Potgieter, Brian Campbell, Chris Gotterup, William Mouw, Kurt Kitayama, Steven Fisk, Michael Brennan, Adam Schenk, Sami Valimaki, Jacob Bridgeman, Nico Echavarria, Akshay Bhatia, Ricky Castillo, Gary Woodland, Alex Fitzpatrick.
Prime 70 from the PGA Championship factors record (official PGA Tour cash 11/5/2025-3/5/2026)
Maverick McNealy, Rickie Fowler, Corey Conners, Hideki Matsuyama, Min Woo Lee, Harry Corridor, Jake Knapp, Nick Taylor, Adam Scott, Daniel Berger, Sam Stevens, Matt McCarty, Nicolai Hojgaard, Jordan Spieth, Andrew Novak, Ryo Hisatsune, Max Greyserman, Alex Noren, Michael Thorbjornsen, Pierceson Coody, Alex Smalley, Bud Cauley, Patrick Rodgers, Chris Kirk, Michael Kim, Sahith Theegala, Matti Schmid, Matt Wallace, Andrew Putnam, Emiliano Grillo, David Lipsky, Rico Hoey.
Prime three from the 2026 European tour Asian Swing
Mikael Lindberg, Bernd Wiesberger, Jordan Gumberg.
Special invites
Luke Donald, Patrick Reed, Marco Penge, Aaron Rai, Kristoffer Reitan, David Puig, Thomas Detry, Jayden Schaper, Jordan Smith, Johnny Keefer, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Sungjae Im, Max McGreevy, Haotong Li, Garrick Higgo, John Parry, Austin Smotherman, Elvis Smylie, Lucas Glover, Daniel Hillier, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Daniel Brown, Stefan Jaeger, Adrien Saddier, Tom McKibbin, Dustin Johnson, Andy Sullivan, Angel Ayora, Keith Mitchell, Chandler Blanchet, Billy Horschel, Ian Holt, Kota Kaneko, Max Homa.
Alternates
Sudarshan Yellamaraju, Tom Hoge, Kevin Yu, Mac Meissner, Tony Finau, Kevin Roy, Davis Thompson.
– with AP
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