{"id":740625,"date":"2026-06-16T17:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T17:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/740625\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T17:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T17:55:11","slug":"lucas-herbert-leaving-pga-tour-for-liv-boosted-major-hopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/740625\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucas Herbert: Leaving PGA Tour for LIV boosted major hopes"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was eight years ago that Herbert birdied the opening hole of his very first major, before contriving to shoot a 13-over-par 83 in his opening round at Shinnecock Hills. He recovered with a 74 on Friday, but the 2018 tournament proved a brutal lesson for an Australian only three years into his professional career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up on the sandbelt and there\u2019s so much strategy with playing those golf courses and figuring out angles into flags, when to attack and when not to,\u201d Herbert tells TG. \u201cWhen you get out and play a lot of regular events in professional golf, there\u2019s not as much strategy any more. It\u2019s the way the modern game is \u2013 get it down there as far as you can and try and get it as close as you can. Once I got to the majors, that was when I realized that was the big strategy test.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fairness, Herbert could hardly have picked a more unforgiving place to start. His 83 was far from an aberration<\/a> on a madcap week on Long Island, where eight-over-par was enough to make the weekend. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe US Open is a different beast,\u201d he adds. \u201cSo many things I learned that week. It\u2019s just so hard and you\u2019ve got to be so disciplined with the way you play a game. You make a bogey and it can take nine holes to get that back. The year before I showed up was Erin Hills and Brooks [Koepka] won on 16-under. I\u2019d never played Erin Hills and I\u2019d never played Shinnecock. I had no references for how hard either of those courses were. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m playing the practice round at Shinnecock going, \u2018Hang on, I\u2019ve got no idea how the hell these guys are doing this.\u2019 It was nice to see that, \u2018OK, everyone finds this like I do.\u2019 I\u2019m really excited to go back and use what I\u2019ve learned over the last eight years to hopefully finish better than where I did last time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lucas<\/p>\n

Herbert is now 30 and has since landed seven wins across an intrepid career. After joining LIV Golf in his peak years, he\u2019s been one of the most outspoken loyalists on the now embattled breakaway league. His maiden LIV victory in May \u2013 where Herbert rose from his sick bed to win in Virginia<\/a> \u2013 secured the sole US Open spot available for the league\u2019s top player not otherwise exempt in the standings.<\/p>\n

But Herbert is irked that his results in majors have belied a game that has become rounded by his success all around the world. In 16 major starts, Herbert has made eight cuts and a tie for 13th at the 2022 PGA Championship is his best showing.<\/p>\n

He returns to Shinnecock taking inspiration from Aaron Rai, his contemporary who also hadn\u2019t had a top-10 in a major before his magical Sunday at Aronimink last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe played on the European Tour together and then both got our PGA Tour cards at the same time,\u201d Herbert explains. \u201cObviously he\u2019s a phenomenal player, but seeing someone that I grew up coming through the professional ranks playing with has given me a bit of fire in the belly. Whether it\u2019s at Shinnecock or Birkdale, to try and go and play a little better than my major record would reflect at the minute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Herbert left the PGA Tour and joined LIV in 2024 knowing majors would be harder to come by. He has played in two so far since joining the league, and was one of only three players inside the world\u2019s top-100 who missed out on the PGA Championship. <\/p>\n

But Herbert became the second LIV player to qualify via the US Open\u2019s new criteria<\/a> and is also into The Open after securing the only spot available at the New Zealand Open in March. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt definitely validates what the league is doing,\u201d he says. \u201cThe direction we\u2019re headed is good with the pathways into the major championships now. I\u2019m obviously proof, I\u2019m playing in the next two majors \u2013 somewhat through LIV, obviously the New Zealand Open wasn\u2019t directly LIV but with the schedule allowing for what it does, it\u2019s partly through LIV.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, Herbert\u2019s tour is engulfed in uncertainty right now, with a search ongoing for new investment after the retreat from its Saudi Arabian benefactors. In the meantime, the debate will continue at Shinnecock about whether the league\u2019s current schedule is hindering preparations for the four majors. Herbert, however, is adamant that LIV is only improving his game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I joined LIV, my focus was to get better as a player,\u201d he says. \u201cI feel like the opportunities that LIV has provided me \u2013 whether it be the ability to play against some really high level players every week, the team aspect with with Ripper and what I\u2019ve been able to learn from those guys and the break in the schedule at the end of the season to be able to go away and do a block of work \u2013 all those have been a big contributing factor to me getting better at golf. Whereas when you\u2019re playing out on tour, you just don\u2019t get a chance to have those kinds of development blocks.<\/p>\n

\"Lucas<\/p>\n

\u201cHad I stayed on the PGA Tour, I arguably could have had more access to majors in the last three years. But what I know within myself is that I\u2019ve got the next two majors and I\u2019ve got a much better chance to play well or to win those and even my progression in my own game as a result of LIV. The access has been more difficult, but when I\u2019ve gotten access, I feel like I\u2019ve got a much better opportunity to play well and take advantage of those opportunities.\u201d <\/p>\n

With the clock ticking for LIV to find new investment partners, it comes as no surprise that Herbert is one of the players desperate for chief executive Scott O\u2019Neil to fill its financial black hole. Should the league continue in 2027, Herbert envisages a reduced schedule populated by several national opens.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing to LIV, two and a half years ago, it was tricky to know whether it was going to be a good or a bad thing,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a change next year. It\u2019s tricky to know whether it\u2019s going to be a good or a bad thing in terms of a shortened schedule. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut the locations that we\u2019re going to go to are obviously earmarked as some of the really crucial markets. Those are the exciting events that we\u2019re looking forward to. Australia is going to be the number one on the schedule that, we want to make sure that one gets in the right slot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know exactly how, how all the cards are going to fall but I can see LIV being something that\u2019s going to be really important in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was eight years ago that Herbert birdied the opening hole of his very first major, before contriving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":740626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-740625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=740625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/740626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=740625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=740625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=740625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}