The South African, who won the 2010 Open Championship, was popular with fans at the recent LIV Golf tournament in Adelaide.

His absence from Kentucky’s Valhalla Golf Club means the contingent will be led by defending champion Brooks Koepka, a three-time winner of the event who is coming off a victory in LIV Singapore event last week.

The eight other LIV players who qualified for the event are Australian Cam Smith, Bryson DeChambeau, Tyrrell Hatton, Dustin Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Phil Mickelson, Andy Ogletree and Jon Rahm.

Talor Gooch revealed on Monday that he had received an invitation. He will be joined by six other LIV players to receive special invites: Australian Lucas Herbert, former Masters champion Patrick Reed, Joaquin Niemann, Dean Burmester, Adrian Meronk and David Puig.

Reed, who has played in every major since the 2014 Masters, moved back inside the top-100 of the Official World Golf Rankings at No.92 with his tie for 12th at Augusta National last month.

Niemann won the Australian Open in December and sits atop LIV’s individual points standings on the strength of claiming further victories at LIV Mayakoba and LIV Jeddah.

Notable names who did not receive invitations include another former Masters champion Sergio Garcia, along with Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz.

Garcia has fallen to No.714 in the rankings with a lone top-10 in an OWGR event – a tie for fifth at last year’s International Series Oman – since signing with LIV and giving up his DP World Tour membership.

Ancer won the PIF Saudi International last year and tied for fourth at the International Series England, but has played in only one OWGR-sanctioned event this year, tying for 38th in Oman.

He is currently No.254 in the world, while Ortiz has slipped to 219th despite following up his win in Oman with a tie for 10th place at the International Series Macau.