According to a USGA decision published Tuesday, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson are welcome to play in the U.S. Open next week, a move that puts the open aspect of the tournament above whether a player plays in a Saudi-funded rival league.

Mikkelson and Johnson are two of the dozen golfers in this week's LIV Golf Invitational who have been granted exemptions to the U.S. Open, which will be held at The Country Club outside of Boston on June 16-19. Both have stated they intend to compete in the year's third major.

Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, and Kevin Na are among the U.S. Open participants who have joined the new competition.

Could a player who has earned his way into the U.S. Open based on our published field criteria be removed from the field due to his decision to compete in another event? The USGA stated, "We ultimately agreed that they should not."

It was unsurprising that the U.S. Open did not refuse admittance. The 156-man field of golf's second-oldest tournament takes pride in its openness. None of the other four majors has requirements that require about half of the field to compete in 36-hole qualifying.

It is one of the characteristics that distinguishes Open apart from the rest. And if you don't believe me, look at what occurred yesterday, said Mike Whan, the USGA's CEO, in a phone conversation.

He was talking to 36-hole qualifying staged in eight American cities and one in Canada for 49 slots. Three previous events were staged in Texas, Japan, and England.

The principal source of money for the new league led by Greg Norman is a sovereign wealth fund in Saudi Arabia, a country with a dismal human rights record, most notably the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

I understand that individuals have strong opinions, and I believe there should be some moral provision, Whan stated. "As I told our team last night, with over 9,300 entries for the U.S. Open, I'm not sure the circle ever stops if we decide what's on their sleeve, their bag, or what tour they're playing, what we believe is OK and what we don't think is OK."

He claims that we don't track people's ideas or who sponsors them. "This isn't to say we don't care."

The USGA stated that who plays next week at Brookline should not imply that the organisation supports a parallel tour or a player's conduct and words.

Instead, it's an answer to whether the USGA considers competing in a non-USGA event without the permission of their home circuit to be a violation that should disqualify them from the U.S. Open.

Following his victory at the 2016 U.S. Open, Johnson was granted a 10-year exemption. Mickelson is exempt for five years after winning the PGA Championship last year. Others, such as Na and Talor Gooch, were among the world's top 60.

Johnson and Oosthuizen are among the players who have resigned from the PGA Tour. Because the Tour did not permit releases to play the LIV Golf Invitational, Mickelson might face disciplinary action from the organisation. According to PGA Tour rules, releases are necessary.

It's unclear whether the criterion will alter for the 2023 U.S. Open and beyond. ACCORDING TO WHAN, the U.S. Open exempt requirements are under ongoing evaluation, and it's impossible to predict what the LIV Golf Invitational series will look like next year or in the future.

Whan said that what this thing is now is different from what it was four months ago and what it will be in eight months. It's a moving target, to be sure. It would be incongruent of us to decide on the criteria for next year's competition now.