Billy Horschel extends LIV Golf “Olive Branch,” asks for The PLAYERS admittance

Billy Horschel is ready to extend an olive branch to LIV Golf so the PLAYERS Championship can again be the best field in all of golf.

The 144-man field is strong, but not as stout as it could be if they extended invitations to the top LIV Golf members, such as World No. 3 Jon Rahm, reigning PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka, 2022 PLAYERS champion Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Joaquin Niemann.

Without those heavyweight names, the field is undeniably weaker. The PLAYERS is known as the unofficial fifth major championship, but can they continue to say that without the field being at top strength?

Horschel spoke with Sky Sports about this and acknowledged how unfortunate it is for those guys not to be at TPC Sawgrass.

“If we see ourselves as a fifth major, which I believe we are, shouldn’t we, maybe, put out a little bit of olive branch,” Horschel said. “We [Jay Monahan and Horschel] had a great conversation about that, and I understood his side of it and the PGA Tour side, but I think personally it’s tough to say that we don’t have all the best players in the world here.”

Horschel hasn’t been a fan of how the Tour membership has handled this whole ordeal. He has also been very vocal on his distaste for LIV since the beginning.

In August 2022, Horschel said he felt the LIV golfers had been brainwashed and did not want to see them back on the PGA Tour.

So, it’s interesting to hear him ask for their admittance into this prestigious event.

“Take out the world rankings, take out everything. Everyone knows by the eyeballs test who the best players are in the world, and I think, hopefully, a year from now, we will have all the best players back here again playing,” he said.

He and guys like Rory McIlroy have changed their tunes about LIV Golf.

“I think for the game of golf to get back to where it needs to be and for the betterment of the game of golf — and take all the personal feelings aside, we need to do the right things,” Horschel said. “Hopefully that does come with the deal with PIF [Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund] and everything, so there’s a path that the best players in the world are playing again at — what I believe is the fifth major.”

Monahan addressed the media on Tuesday to give an update on the progress in negotiations with the PIF, but failed to provide any concrete information.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.