LIV Golfer Lucas Herbert granted unlikely DP World Tour green light for 2025

In another sign of tension between the PGA and DP tours and LIV Golf easing, Lucas Herbert’s circuit membership has been given the green light for 2025.

Lucas Herbert is unlikely to make a regular return to the DP World Tour next year – and possibly won’t play any of their events outside Australia – after he joined LIV Golf defectors Sergio Garcia and Jon Rahm in having his membership of the circuit confirmed for 2025.

Herbert, fresh from his first Australian win as a professional when he outduelled Cameron Smith at the NSW Open last week, was surprisingly this week named as a DP World Tour member along with a raft of superstars on Greg Norman’s Saudi-backed league.

While there are Ryder Cup implications for Garcia – who has paid more than $1.9 million in fines and wants to feature for Europe in New York next year – Herbert’s name came out of left field when the DP World Tour confirmed the LIV-contracted golfers eligible for events next season.

Lucas Herbert during the final round of the NSW Open at Murray Downs.

It’s another sign of the tension easing between the established PGA and DP World Tours and LIV Golf as they continue to thrash out an agreement to end the sport’s civil war.

But Herbert, 28, has already cooled the prospect of him playing a raft of DP World Tour events and returning to the circuit where he made his name with three worldwide wins.

He’s already contracted to play 14 LIV events as part of Smith’s Ripper GC franchise and has another three International Series events on the Asian Tour he’s obliged to tee up in.

On top of his annual homecoming – he will play four events over the Australian summer, including a Webex Players Series tournament at Cobram Barooga in January – Herbert’s schedule is unlikely to entertain a significant number of DP World Tour starts.

Instead, he confirmed he will aggressively pursue qualification for the four majors after his switch to LIV this year meant he only received a late invitation to the USPGA Championship, missing The Masters, US Open and British Open.

“I will be doing everything I can to qualify for those,” Herbert said.

“I know there’s an avenue through next week with the Australian Open and with the order of merit in Australia, I believe there’s some exemptions there as well. And then you’ve got the 36-hole qualifiers, so I’ll be doing everything I can to try and give myself a good chance to qualify for those because they are still pretty important in my life.

“My schedule will get made up somewhere around that. I don’t see it extending too far past that, but that’s sort of where my priorities lie when building that schedule.”

Herbert’s world ranking plummeted outside the top 200 until he won at Murray Downs Country Club last week, edging back to 191.

He reached a career high of 40 and was at No.66 when he finished seventh in last year’s Australian Open before joining LIV Golf. LIV events are ineligible for world rankings points.

Herbert outduelled Cameron Smith to be named 2024 NSW Open champion. Picture: Golf NSW

He will be able to accrue more points in the DP World Tour-sanctioned Australian PGA Championship, starting at Royal Queensland on Thursday, and take a small step to joining Smith, Adam Scott, Jason Day, Min Woo Lee and Cameron Davis in the field for Augusta National.

“I think when it boiled down to it, the impact of playing in those major championships as well, winning them, playing well, [and] having success ultimately had a big impact on Australian golf,” Herbert said.

“I look at the impact Cam’s had from winning The Open Championship in 2022. It feels like golf has not been in a position this good in a long time. We’ve got so many people playing the game.”

Herbert will start among the favourites in a rain-sodden Brisbane for the Australian PGA, behind only Smith, Lee and Day in betting markets.

Originally published as LIV Golfer Lucas Herbert granted unlikely DP World Tour green light for 2025