A glance at the current Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) shows some obvious anomalies that have been widely acknowledged by all parties in the current uneasy world of global golf.
Greg Norman, Commissioner and CEO of LIV Golf, recently announced that LIV Golf are withdrawing their application for OWGR points for LIV Golf.
Norman said on the sidelines of LIV Golf – Hong Kong: “Unfortunately, OWGR has shown little willingness to productively work with us.
“We have made significant efforts to fight for you and ensure your accomplishments are recognized within the existing ranking system.”
In July, 2022, LIV Golf originally sent through an application for OWGR Points.
In October, 2023, LIV Golf’s application was formally rejected.
When it denied LIV points, the OWGR claimed the league, which features a mostly-closed field of 54 players playing 54-holes, with a shotgun start, with no-cut events – wasn’t able to be compared to the other 24 tours under its world ranking wing.
Also of concern were the qualifying and relegation methods employed by LIV Golf.
“We are not at war with them,” Peter Dawson, chairman of the OWGR board, told AP. “This decision not to make them eligible is not political,” he added. “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 tours and thousands of players trying to compete on them.”
The pathways to LIV Golf are few and far between, but the league did implement a promotions event last year in Abu Dhabi, which saw three players gain status. The leading player on the Asian Tour’s International Series Order of Merit also earns a LIV spot for the following season.
What is the solution?
The golf Majors currently use the OWGR as one of the entry options for their events.
The acknowledgement by The Masters of the recent form of Mexico’s Joaquin Niemann on LIV Golf by granting an invite to him along with the DP World Tour’s Thorbjorn Oleson and Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune follows historical precedents to keep ‘developing interest in the game of golf across the world.’
None of the other Majors have so far made comment on whether they will follow this invite policy.
Let’s all hope that common sense can soon prevail.
Many of the leading players already have Majors to their name – with appropriate exemptions to all the Majors – but these soon run out.
With how the world of golf has changed so much in the last year or so – let’s hope we can all see the best players in the world playing together in the same event – sooner rather than later.
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If OWGR points were granted to LIV Golf with immediate effect – it would not be that meaningful, as LIV Golfer Talor Gooch commented – with only four LIV Golf players in the current top 50 of the OWGR.
We will watch and wait to see what happens next.
The Rankings were established in 1986 – ironically with Greg Norman achieving the number one spot in that year.