Revealed: LIV Golf star was 'offered but declined' US PGA invite
LIV Golf star and former Open champion Louis Oosthuizen was reportedly offered an invite into next week's US PGA, but he declined it....
Louis Oosthuizen has reportedly declined an invite into next week's US PGA, according to Associated Press reporter Doug Ferguson.
Oosthuizen, 41, is understood to have been 'offered' an invite into the second major of the season at Valhalla by the PGA of America.
But the 2010 Open champion and LIV Golf star is believed to have 'declined' the invite.
According to the AP's Ferguson, Oosthuizen turned down his invite into the 2024 US PGA due to 'personal commitments'.
Ferguson added: 'Not sure what those were'.
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The PGA of America announced over the past 24 hours that six LIV Golf players received invites into the 2024 US PGA Championship.
Those players are Talor Gooch, David Puig, Dean Burmester, Patrick Reed, Adrian Meronk and Lucas Herbert. Read more on that here.
It brings the total up to 16 LIV Golf players competing in the 2024 US PGA.
The omission of Oosthuizen's name from the list initially saw a number of frustrated golf fans vent into their keypads.
According to renowned golf writer Bob Harig, the PGA of America told him to go to the South African for an answer as to why he is not competing in the US PGA - and not them.
Harig tweeted:
"PGA is saying to go through Louis for the answer which suggests he was offered and declined. Not sure why they'd want us to ask him if he didn't get offered... he's also not entered US Open qualifying."
Pro Golf Critic claims he has heard on the grapevine that Oosthuizen even turned down his invite to let his fellow Stinger Burmester into the US PGA instead.
This is unconfirmed though.
Oosthuizen has won 16 times around the world during his pro career, highlighted by etching his name on the famous Claret Jug at the Home of Golf, St Andrews, at the 2010 Open.
He also has two runner-up finishes to his name at the US PGA Championship in 2017 and 2021.
The Stinger GC captain has been playing some impressive golf of late, highlighted with two end-of-year wins on the DP World Tour before chalking up a pair of runner-up finishes in Jeddah and Adelaide on the LIV Golf League.
As a result of his recent stellar play, Oosthuizen finds himself fourth on the season-long standings on LIV Golf.
Data Golf even ranks Oosthuizen as the 32nd best player in the world, a stats-based system that equates the best players on the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and DP World Tour right now.
But despite seemingly being rewarded by the PGA of America for his latest performances on the Saudi-bankrolled circuit, Oosthuizen has turned down such an opportunity to compete on the major stage this month.
In one of LIV Golf's recent podcast episodes, Oosthuizen claimed he was 'not really bothered about the US Open and US PGA'.
Oosthuizen said:
"I’m not really bothered about the US Open and PGA Championship. It’s nothing against the tournaments... but I feel I’ve played loads of them and was very happy playing them."
No doubt Oosthuizen will provide further details of his decision to decline an invite into the 2024 US PGA Championship soon.
Oosthuizen was not eligible for The Masters last month, and his latest major appearance was a T23 at the 2023 Open Championship.
The South African has eligibility into The Open for the next 19 years until the age of 60.
He is not currently eligible for the other three majors, as a direct result of LIV Golf League events remaining shut out of receiving any Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points.
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