SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. \u2014 At the end of play on Friday at the 2026 U.S. Open, there were 21 players at even par or better, led by Wyndham Clark at seven under.<\/p>\n
None of them are currently playing for LIV Golf.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s notable\u2014and maybe just a little disastrous\u2014at a crucial time for a league in flux. On June 9, LIV CEO Scott O\u2019Neil appeared on CNBC\u2019s \u201cHalftime Report\u201d to give an update on the league\u2019s attempt to secure $350 million in funding after news came out in April that Saudi Arabia\u2019s PIF was pulling out at the end of 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe clock\u2019s obviously ticking,\u201d O\u2019Neil said. \u201cWhile we have incredible business momentum, what we don\u2019t have is a lot of time. So we\u2019re very urgently out there, talking to those who are interested. We like the pool, but you know, we have to get this done through the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n
There will be many factors that go into whether they secure that investment, of which player results at a major championship are only one, and yet the quality of the product is not negligible.<\/p>\n
From that perspective, it hasn\u2019t been a great week for O\u2019Neil.<\/p>\n
The league\u2019s two biggest stars, Bryson DeChambeau (five over) and Jon Rahm (six over), each missed the cut. It\u2019s the third straight missed cut at a major for DeChambeau, who recently said that he\u2019s stuck between two paths\u2014professional golf and content creation.<\/p>\n
Five other LIV players joined them in missing the cut, including Carlos Ortiz, Lucas Herbert and Cameron Smith at six over, David Puig at nine over, and Graeme McDowell at 12 over.<\/p>\n
In all, six of LIV\u2019s 13 entries into the U.S. Open made the cut, but none of them are higher on the leaderboard than T-35. Tyrrell Hatton led the way at two over, nine shots off Clark\u2019s lead, with Dustin Johnson and Joaquin Niemann trailing him by a shot at three over. (For a time, Johnson was solo second, but a nightmarish back nine that included a quadruple bogey sent him plummeting.) The other three players to make cut did so on the number at four over\u2014Laurie Canter, Peter Uihlein and Caleb Surratt.<\/p>\n
Niemann may have made the biggest splash of any player, but not the way he wanted\u2014he was penalized two shots for throwing a club while making an 11 on the sixth hole Thursday, which left him in tears when he found out on Friday morning, and led to an inquiry about whether it could be appealed (the USGA said no). To Niemann\u2019s credit, he fought back from that opening 78 to shoot a 65 and make cut.<\/p>\n
Two LIV golfers have won majors while playing in the league\u2014Brooks Koepka at the 2023 PGA Championship, and DeChambeau a year later at the U.S. Open. (Koepka subsequently left LIV at the end of 2025.) This year, Rahm finished T-2 at the PGA Championship and Hatton finished T-3 at the Masters.<\/p>\n
If none of the six who made the cut fight back into the top 10 at Shinnecock, it would be a rarity. Since the first major of the LIV era, the 2022 U.S. Open, a LIV player has finished inside the top 10 of every major except two\u2014that first U.S. Open and the 2023 Open Championship.<\/p>\n
MORE GOLF DIGEST U.S. OPEN COVERAGE<\/p>\n
U.S. Open 101: Answering all your frequently asked questions<\/p>\n
How to watch the 2026 U.S. Open<\/p>\n
Power Rankings: Every player in the U.S. Open field, ranked<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the record prize money payout for each golfer at the U.S. Open<\/p>\n
Video: Every hole at Shinnecock Hills<\/p>\n
Why can\u2019t the USGA get Shinnecock Hills right? Our interactive guide explains<\/p>\n
What\u2019s a \u2018good\u2019 shot at Shinnecock? The difference between our editos and tour average<\/p>\n
Breaking down Scottie Scheffler\u2019s chances to complete the career Grand Slam<\/p>\n
Every chip shot you\u2019ll see at Shinnecock Hills, explained<\/p>\n
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. \u2014 At the end of play on Friday at the 2026 U.S. Open, there were 21…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":748371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[4225,64,63,755,138747,44,85],"class_list":["post-748370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-article","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-golf-digest","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748370","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=748370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}