Joaquin Niemann and Tyrrell Hatton did not win the U.S. Open, but they left Shinnecock Hills with something LIV Golf players cannot afford to treat lightly: guaranteed major access.
Both finished tied for seventh at one over, according to LIV Golf, a result that secured places in the 2027 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach because top-10 finishers are exempt for the following year’s championship. In a week dominated by Wyndham Clark’s wire-to-wire title and the noise around the New York galleries, that detail matters. For LIV players, the margins around the majors are still different.
Why the Pebble Beach places matter
Major starts have become one of the central competitive questions around LIV Golf. The league has elite players, heavy money and genuine global reach, but its members are still navigating a world-ranking system that often leaves the majors as a narrower doorway than it is for equivalent PGA Tour regulars.
That is why Niemann and Hatton securing Pebble Beach starts is not just a tidy footnote from Shinnecock. It is protection. It removes one layer of uncertainty from next season and keeps two of LIV’s most credible major performers inside the conversation for another year.
ReadGolf has already looked at how Wyndham Clark turned the Shinnecock crowd into a U.S. Open answer, but the LIV angle is different. Clark left with the trophy. Niemann and Hatton left with proof that, even under the current qualification squeeze, a high major finish can still do some important housekeeping.
Niemann turns a chaotic week into a result
Niemann’s route was the more dramatic of the two. LIV Golf reported that his opening 78 included an 11 on the par-four sixth, two tee shots out of bounds and a two-shot penalty for throwing a club. That is the kind of sequence that can swallow an entire championship.
Instead, he answered with a second-round 65, then added weekend rounds of 72 and 66. The closing 66 was not enough to trouble Clark, but it was enough to turn a week that could have been remembered only for a rules incident into something much more useful.
That is the distinction. Niemann did not escape scrutiny. He earned the right for the conversation to continue on the golf as well as the mistake.
Hatton keeps building a major profile
Hatton’s week was quieter, which is not a criticism. A closing 67 moved him alongside Niemann and strengthened a major record that has become more substantial since he joined LIV Golf. He is not just a Ryder Cup temperament story or a player capable of catching fire for 18 holes. He is repeatedly finding the top end of major leaderboards.
That consistency gives the result a sharper edge. ReadGolf’s earlier piece on how Hatton gave Britain a quiet U.S. Open answer now has a longer tail: the answer also comes with a confirmed return to one of the game’s great venues.
The wider U.S. Open fallout has naturally centred on Clark, Sam Burns and Scottie Scheffler, and rightly so. ReadGolf also examined why Burns left Shinnecock with more than a near miss. But for LIV, the most durable consequence may be simpler.
Niemann and Hatton did not solve every access question in golf. They did make sure Pebble Beach will have to deal with them next June.
