At one point, there were doubts as to whether LIV Golf players would be eligible to play in the 2023 Majors, such was the huge controversy that erupted with the emergence of the big-money circuit.
Eventually, the way was cleared for their participation, but there was still the issue of how many of its players would qualify. That didn’t affect some players, who already had eligibility thanks to previous achievements in the Majors, while others were able to qualify despite their inevitable slides down the world rankings.
In the end, nine LIV golfers appeared in all four Majors, and they experienced wildly differing fortunes. Here is how the final LIV Golf leaderboard looked when taking into account their performances across all four of the showpiece events.
1. Brooks Koepka -10
Koepka had looked favourite to claim his first Green Jacket in the opening Major of the year, The Masters. However, by his own admittance, he “choked away” his opportunity during the final round, which allowed Jon Rahm to win.
He still finished on eight-under though, and it got better at the PGA Championship, where he enhanced his reputation as a player who saved his best for the big tournaments, all but wrapping up victory with a stunning iron shot on the 18th in the final round, before finishing nine-under to win his fifth Major title.
That was as good as it got in the Majors for Koepka, but, despite admitting he wasn't a fan of the US Open's Los Angeles Country Club layout, he finished one-under to remain the outstanding LIV Golf performer across all three of the Majors that had been completed.
Koepka had a far more frustrating experience at The Open, where he made the cut but finished a disappointing eight-over to leave him 10-under for all four tournaments, eight ahead of his closest LIV Golf rival.
2. Cameron Smith -2
After an incredible 2022 that included a T3 at The Masters and victory at The Open, big things were expected of Smith at the Majors. While his performances in them weren’t as strong in 2023, he still did enough to finish second on the LIV Golf leaderboard.
The Australian didn’t start well, though. At The Masters, he failed to recreate the magic that pushed winner Scottie Scheffler all the way in 2022, finishing four-over with a T34 for the tournament.
The PGA Championship was far more productive for Smith, where a one-under for the tournament saw him finish T9 on the leaderboard at Oak Hill.
By the third Major of the year, Smith was on a roll, and a six-under saw him finish fourth. Was he hitting form at the right time to retain his Open title?
It looked good when he won the LIV Golf London event a couple of weeks before the tournament at Royal Liverpool, but a one-over left him T33 and, despite clawing seven shots back on Koepka, he finished second on the LIV Golf leaderboard for the four tournaments.
3. Patrick Reed +4
Reed is a former Masters champion, so it was no surprise that he was assured at Augusta National on the way to a seven-under T4.
While that left him third on the LIV Golf leaderboard behind Koepka and Phil Mickelson, though, he ultimately dropped a place thanks to the less confident outings that followed.
At the PGA Championship, he finished two-over for a T18, and it got worse for Reed at the US Open where he made the cut but finished T56 on eight-over.
Reed handled the atrocious conditions at The Open better than most with one-over for the tournament for a T33, but he still finished eight behind Smith on the overall LIV Golf leaderboard.
4. Bryson DeChambeau +9
The Masters has never been DeChambeau’s strongest Major, and that trend continued in 2023, when he didn’t make the weekend after finishing on four-over.
By the PGA Championship, though, he almost seemed back to his imperious best, finishing on three-under for a T4.
The 2020 US Open champion would have been confident of repeating the feat in the June event, but it didn’t quite go to plan, as a one-over for the tournament left him 11 behind winner Wyndham Clark.
Though DeChambeau was far from the only one to struggle, The Open was more reminiscent of his Augusta National failure. He made the cut, but finished T60 on seven-over. That left him nine-over across the four events, five behind Reed and fourth on the leaderboard.
T5. Phil Mickelson +14
Lefty rolled back the years at Augusta National, particularly with a sensational 65 in the final round, to hold the clubhouse lead and an outside chance of a fourth Green Jacket. It didn’t happen, but his eight-under total left him tied with Koepka as the best-performing LIV golfer at the tournament.
However, those gains were extinguished and then some by the end of the PGA Championship, where Mickelson made the cut but finished on 10-over, with the form that saw him take the 2021 title nowhere to be found.
Mickelson only needs a US Open title to complete a career Grand Slam, but after a steady enough start, it all went wrong on Friday, and he finished three-over to miss the cut.
It got even worse at The Open. This time, a frustrating two days saw Mickelson finish nine-over and out of the weekend’s action. That left him to reflect on a Major campaign that finished on 14-over, despite that exceptional start.
T5. Joaquin Niemann +14
A T16 following a two-under at The Masters gave the Chilean his best result in a Major, but he came unstuck at Oak Hill when, despite making the cut, he finished eight-over to leave him 23 behind Koepka on the overall LIV Golf leaderboard.
There was an improvement at the US Open, where Niemann finished on three-over for a creditable T32, but another missed cut at Royal Liverpool, where he finished five-over, left him level with Mickelson on 14-over across the four events.
7. Abraham Ancer +26
A five-over at The Masters left Ancer T39 for the tournament, but if he had designs on improving at the PGA Championship, where his previous two starts had finished in the top 10, it went horribly wrong, as he missed the cut on 11-over.
The US Open brought some improvement in the form of a seven-over T54, and there was more encouragement with a T49 at The Open. He still finished three-over though, despite it being the seventh-best LIV performance at the tournament.
Overall, Ancer’s Majors left him on 26-over, 36 shots worse off than Koepka at the top, and 12 behind his nearest rival Niemann ahead of him.
8. Dustin Johnson +27
After a stunning year in LIV Golf’s inaugural season and two Major wins to his name, surely DJ would emerge one of the best LIV players, wouldn’t he? In a word, no.
The 2020 Masters champion finished eight-over this time around to finish T49, and it got even worse at the PGA Championship, where he finished nine-over at a tournament where he’d achieved runner-up twice.
Despite those failures, he'd won the US Open in 2016, and he seemed far more comfortable in it, finishing three-under for a T10. Just when it looked like he might be primed for another assault on a Major title, though, The Open went disastrously, when he capitulated to 13-over and missed the cut.
9. Thomas Pieters +28
While Johnson would have been reeling after his generally disappointing year in Majors, he could at least take consolation from the fact there was one LIV Golf player who performed worse than him.
Thomas Pieters began poorly with an eight-over at The Masters, and he was similarly unimpressive at Oak Hill where he finished six-over for a T40.
He was then one of five LIV Golf players to miss the cut in Los Angeles at the US Open (four-over), and, while he avoided the fate at The Open, he still finished 10-over.
That left him 28-over for his four Major appearances, 38 shots worse off than Koepka and rock bottom of the overall LIV Golf leaderboard.
