LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman stands on the first tee during the final round of LIV Golf – Bedminster. | Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The Official World Golf Ranking board has denied LIV Golf’s application after it was under review for over a year.
Players competing in LIV Golf events will not receive Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points.
According to Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press, the OWGR board has denied LIV Golf’s application to the OWGR.
That application was first submitted in July 2022, when now LIV golfer Cameron Smith won The Open Championship at St. Andrews.
“We are not at war with them,” Peter Dawson, the former CEO of the R&A and current chairman of the OWGR board, said to the Associated Press.
“This decision not to make them eligible is not political. It is entirely technical. LIV players are self-evidently good enough to be ranked. They’re just not playing in a format where they can be ranked equitably with the other 24 players and thousands of players trying to compete on them.”
Photo by Ross Parker/Getty Images
Peter Dawson alongside Yasir al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, at the 2023 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
LIV Golf features 54-hole events, shotgun starts, no cuts, and just a 48-man field—unlike most professional events around the world.
Yet, the Saudi-backed tour features many major champions, including Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Brooks Koepka, who won the 2023 PGA Championship.
Louis Oosthuizen, who won The Open at St. Andrews in 2010, recently blasted the OWGR, calling it a “PGA Tour ranking system” and not a “world-ranking system.”
However, the OWGR committee, which includes leaders from Augusta National, the United States Golf Association, the PGA of America, and the R&A, feels that LIV Golf’s structure and format do not serve as a fair comparison to other tours.
The committee also expressed concern with the team aspect of LIV Golf, a massive component of the Saudi-backed tour.
For instance, last April, the week before the Masters, Sebastian Muñoz’s Torgue GC held a one-shot lead in the team competition.
Meanwhile, Muñoz faced a one-shot deficit to Koepka in the individual portion of the event.
On the 18th hole, Muñoz needed to make a birdie to force a playoff with the now five-time major champion. But instead of being aggressive and going for the individual victory, he lagged his putt and thus secured the victory for his team.
Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
Sebastian Muñoz, Mito Pereira, Joaquin Niemann, and David Puig of Torgue GC celebrate their victory at the LIV Golf Invitational – Orlando event in April 2023.
That unique situation caused the OWGR to raise some eyebrows.
The committee also expressed worry about the league’s relegation and qualification formula, as all 48 players compete in each of the 14 events.
LIV Golf does not expect much turnover into 2024, as only three players will be added for next season.
That starkly contrasts the PGA Tour, which recently awarded tour cards to 30 players who recently graduated from the Korn Ferry Tour.
The technical issue OWGR couldn’t get past was mainly about a 48-man roster all season, not enough open access and not enough relegation for poor play.
In a weird way, sounds like it’s a “protecting the field” issue, the field being the other 24 tours.
— Doug Ferguson (@dougferguson405) October 10, 2023
Nevertheless, Dawson affirmed that major champions deserve to be ranked in the system, but the mathematics of how to rank those on the LIV Golf circuit have yet to be established.
“We need to find a way to get that done,” Dawson added to the Associated Press. “I hope that LIV can find a solution—not so much their format, that can be dealt with through a mathematical formula—but the qualification and relegation.”
Of course, Tuesday’s announcement comes just days after Yasir al-Rumayyan, the Governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) and benefactor of LIV Golf, played a round with Dawson at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St. Andrews.
The day before, al-Rumayyan played alongside Martin Slumbers, the CEO of the R&A.
Despite that, LIV Golf will not receive OWGR points, at least for now.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.
