LIV Golf have suffered a setback in their quest for validation amongst the golfing world after the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) rejected the application they submitted in July 2022 for World Ranking points.
The OWGR announced that it could not fairly measure the 48 man no cut league with the other 22 tours around the world. Peter Dawson, former Chief Executive of the R&A and current chairman of the OWGR board told the Associated Press that the decision made was not political, stating that the board felt that the format was not suitable for world ranking points.
“We are not at war with them,” Dawson said. “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 tours and thousands of players trying to compete on them.”
Jay Monahan and Keith Pelley, the heads of the PGA and DP World Tour respectively, along with Keith Waters of the International Federation of PGA Tour all removed themselves from the decision to avoid any conflict of interest after the tours announced a merger back in June.
The committee that refused LIV’s application included leaders from Augusta National, the PGA of America, the US Golf Association and The R&A, the organisations that run the four majors. The majors use the OWGR as part of their qualifying criteria.
When LIV Golf completed its first season, it had 12 players from the top 50 in the world, including Open champion Cameron Smith, and 24 of the top 100 in the World. In this week’s ranking, Smith (15th) and PGA champion Brooks Koepka (18th) are the only players in top 50, and LIV has only six players among the top 100.
Among those no longer in the top 100 are Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Talor Gooch, who has three LIV Golf victories this year.
“Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, of course they should be in the ranking,” Dawson added. “We need to find a way to get that done”.
Former Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen spoke last week about the issue of the World Rankings and LIV Golf, and made it clear that the it was the issue with the rankings that remained the biggest stumbling block between LIV and the other tours.
“There’s people who don’t want to see it happen but most of the golfing world just wants to see all of the best golfers in the world playing proper events, and with all the top players teeing-up in all the majors,” said Oosthuizen speaking at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
“Though the biggest thing they need to correct is what they are intending to do with the World Rankings because at the moment, the Rankings are a joke. So, that’s the only aspect of the men’s game they need to figure out”.
The OWGR committee, and according to Associated Press, had also raised concerns over the team aspect of LIV, particularly a moment involving Sebastian Munoz at a LIV Golf event in Florida a week before the Masters.
Koepka had a one-shot lead on the final hole, with he and Munoz both about 40 feet away for birdie. Koepka went first and left the putt just over 4 feet away. Munoz needed to make birdie to force a playoff. However, his Torque team had a one-shot lead. Munoz lagged his putt to just inside 4 feet and made par.
“I knew we were one stroke ahead on the team, so I couldn’t go extra. I knew I couldn’t be too aggressive,” Munoz said when it was over.
LIV Golf issued a statement soon after the announcement which read as follows;
“OWGR’s sole objective is to rank the best players across the globe. Today’s communication makes clear that it can no longer deliver on that objective.
“Players have historically remained subject to a single world ranking to qualify for Major Championships, the biggest events, and for corporate sponsor contract value. A ranking which fails to fairly represent all participants, irrespective of where in the world they play golf, robs fans, players and all of golf’s stakeholders of the objective basis underpinning any accurate recognition of the world’s best player performances. It also robs some traditional tournaments of the best fields possible.
“Professional golf is now without a true or global scoring and ranking system. There is no benefit for fans or players from the lack of trust or clarity as long as the best player performances are not recognized.
“LIV will continue to strive to level set the market so fans, broadcasters, and sponsors have the assurance of an independent and objective ranking system and the pure enjoyment of watching the best golf in the world.”
LIV Golf can reapply to be part of the OWGR system, though the board made it clear that turnover, objective access to LIV Golf and relegating players who don’t perform remain key points in getting ranking points.
There’s also the matter of the PGA Tour, European tour and Saudi backers of LIV Golf (Public Investment Fund) working out a commercial partnership announced in June. One of the provisions is evaluating the future of team golf.
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