Despite featuring in just one Major championship throughout 2024, Abraham Ancer remains "happy" with his decision to join LIV Golf, as the 33-year-old remains hopeful the League will receive Major exemptions going in to 2025.
Last season, there was reason to think that the men's professional game was, perhaps, becoming more united, with one shred of evidence being shown in the Majors.
At The Masters, for example, LIV's Joaquin Niemann earned a special invite to Augusta National, whilst various players from the circuit were given invitations into the PGA Championship.
However, as of writing, there are still no pathways for those on the LIV Golf League to make it into the Major championships, despite the League possessing a number of the game's biggest names.
Kevin Na has voiced his approval for LIV to receive Major exemptions, with Ancer remaining "hopeful" that changes will also occur in future months.
Speaking in an interview with Golf Monthly, Ancer stated: "We will find out if anything changes (regarding Major exemptions). Do we want to play the Majors? Of course we do. So, hopefully something happens and there’s a bit of a path. I feel like there’s a bunch of (LIV) players who have a chance to win a Major, but we’ll see what happens."
Playing under the Fireballs GC banner, the team's Captain is former Masters winner, Sergio Garcia. However, despite the Spaniard's stature in the game of golf, Garcia was forced to go through both US Open and Open Championship qualifying, failing to get through both times after losing in a seven-man playoff and coming up a shot short in the latter.
“We definitely saw it this past year and you see the hunger in us wanting to play in Majors", explained Ancer, who only qualified for The Open Championship via a playoff at Final Stage Qualifying.
"It’s something that I don’t really try and think about. I’m happy with my decision (to join LIV) and I knew that may have been a possibility, (of not playing Majors) even though I thought there may have been some type of path created some time ago, but it is what it is. So we’ll see what we’ve got and we’ll keep going.”
Away from the Majors, there is still the matter of LIV Golfers not being allowed in PGA Tour sanctioned events. Those tournaments include the Presidents Cup, which sees 12 US players take on 12 International players.
Prior to the tournament in September, it was revealed that individuals from LIV Golf would not feature, despite a lot of former International stars playing in previous iterations. Five of the 12 International players who played at the 2019 Presidents Cup now ply their trade with LIV Golf.
"The Presidents Cup, for me, was a tournament that I will always remember and never forget," admitted Ancer, who claimed 3.5 points from a possible 5 when he made his one and only appearance in 2019.
"You feel things that you just don’t feel anywhere else. You grow up watching that and it was always a dream to make that team and to finally do it and play in Australia, which is one of my favourite countries to play golf, everyone welcomed me and it was a very special week.
"I got to play my childhood hero, Tiger, in the singles, which was pretty surreal. That week taught me a lot about who I was as a golfer and where I needed to get better. To go back to that week would be special and I use it to understand where to get better. That week taught me a lot.”
In 2024, the US Team claimed an 18.5 - 11.5 victory, as they wrapped up a 10th straight Presidents Cup. In the post-round, many wondered whether the likes of Joaquin Niemann, Cameron Smith and Ancer, along with others, would have made the difference.
“It’s easy for me to say, but there’s definitely a lot of Internationals here at LIV that would contribute heavily to the team," explained Ancer. "We have so many really good players, not that the Presidents Cup's International side wasn’t strong, because it was, but you’ve got some guys on LIV that are peaking right now and that are playing some really strong golf and love playing matchplay.”
