Thomas Detry, who you may know as the first and only Belgian to win on the PGA Tour (2025 WM Phoenix Open), is having a stellar season on the LIV Golf circuit. The 33-year-old hasn’t won, but he has five top-10s in eight starts, including a runner-up finish in Hong Kong, and at the halfway point of this week’s event, the bruising Valderrama in Spain, is just two behind Tyrrell Hatton‘s six under the lead.
That’s why at last month’s LIV event in Virginia, Detry was so bullish not only about his game, but also about his chances of punching his ticket to the 2026 US Open in Shinnecock Hills. “I’m not worried about it,” he said that week. “The way I’m playing golf, I don’t think it’s possible for me not to play in the US Open.”
Detry’s chances He did look good, through four possible paths, the first of which was an exemption given to the best LIV player not otherwise exempt and in the top 3 of the LIV Golf 2026 individual rankings as of May 18.
Going into the Virigina event, Detry held that spot with Elvis Smylie and Anthony Kim it stung the heels. But then came a less obvious challenger: Australian Lucas Herbert, who won the tournament by four and, with it, a golden ticket to Shinnecock.
Route 2 for Detry was elevating himself into the top 60 in the world by the end of the year The PGA Championshipwhich took place a week after LIV Virginia. Detry was in the PGA field (via a special invitation from the PGA of America) and headed into the week ranked 61st in the world. He has a mixed record in his 14 major league starts, but has had some standout performances. At the 2025 US Open at Oakmont, Detry finished 23rd; a year ago, at Pinehurst, he finished 14th. His best major finish came at the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla, where he tied for 4th.
“My strategy in the majors is kind of to keep the same routine as a normal tournament and treat the major like it’s a normal tournament,” he said at LIV Virginia. “I feel like I’m already beating half the field because some of the guys are shooting themselves off the field by putting too much pressure on themselves.”
But in the PGA at AroniminkDetry was one of those players who shot himself out of contention, pairing an opening 72 with a 73 in the second round to lose by one. Early bag packing was expensive, and not just in a financial sense. However, Detry had two other potential routes to Shinnecock, starting with the 36-hole gauntlet that is the US Open’s final qualifier.
After missing the weekend in Philadelphia, Detry took a flight to London, where he played the US Open final qualifier at Walton Heath. Seven spots were up for grabs and Detry looked destined to grab one of them when he bogeyed his 34th hole to move to 10 under. (“I thought I qualified,” he said later.) But 10 under would only be good enough for a spot in a 4-to-1 playoff, and the extra holes didn’t go Detry’s way with Frenchman Ugo Coussaud dominating. Adding salt to the wound, Detry finished last in the playoffs, meaning he was also shut out of an alternate spot.
“I’ve been hitting pretty well the last couple of weeks, so I’ve put that aside,” he said, referring to the worry going into the US Open. “I’m just focusing on having a good week this week.”
or big week at Valderrama would be even better, because Detry has one last potential path to the Open: slipping into the top 60 in the world before his second USGA qualifying finish in the top 60 on June 15.
A win in Spain would certainly accomplish that; maybe even a runner-up. LIV players gain about 23 world ranking points for an LIV win (which is less than half of what winners in full-field PGA Tour events get) and runners-up gain about 13.4 points. Detry is currently ranked 66th with 88.52029 points. Barring a flurry of significant moves after Detry, a 13-point jump at the end of the week would move him to 58th or 59th in the standings with one event remaining – next week’s Canadian Open – for any PGA Tour player to catch him.
But first things first: play the weekend at Valderrama, as he did the first two rounds when he went free for the first 34 holes.
“If I end up qualifying,” Detry said of the US Open, “it will be a well-deserved qualifier.”
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