When you’re reporting on PGA Tour and DP World Tour events, the debate around the relevancy of the Official World Golf Ranking is rarely brought up. It’s simply not a problem, it’s their (LIV) problem.
When you’re reporting on a LIV Golf event, the debate around the relevancy of the Official World Golf Ranking is a hot topic of debate.
In fact, it’s not a debate. The ranking system has just been completely written off.
Unless you have been living under a rock for the last few years, LIV Golf players are ineligible to earn Official World Golf Ranking points having had a previous application turned down in 2023 with former OWGR chairman Peter Dawson saying the 54-hole, no-cut events for 48 players was an issue, along with limited access for players to join the venture.
The lack of a pathway to the tour has since been addressed somewhat but having abandoned their plans to re-apply in 2024, new LIV CEO Scott O’Neill has revived the idea and applied last month.
“We have filed an application, and I’m in pretty good contact with Trevor Immelman,” said O’Neill who otherwise kept his cards close to his chest regarding We have a call later this week. He’s been a good source of encouragement, push-back, debate, and we’ve both agreed to keep those conversations between the two of us until we take another step forward.”
Press conferences got underway at 10am and in walked Tom McKibbin Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and Caleb Surratt.
Rahm believes the Official World Golf Ranking was already on its way to becoming obsolete before LIV Golf’s inception in 2022.
The two-time major winner and former world number one was ranked as high as third in the world when he joined the Saudi backed tour and has ranked as low as 80th over the last two years.
“I have my disagreements with the world ranking system before I ever joined LIV. I already thought it was flawed before I ever came, and I was vocal about it. So I think the last few years, even the world ranking itself and both Data Golf do a strokes gained ranking, and I think that much more reflects who truly is playing the best because the actual points being a two-year ranking, you can have a poor week or a poor three weeks, and that will hold you down for two whole years.
“It’s crazy how you can actually finesse a little bit of the system by playing certain weeks and not playing certain weeks and things like that. It’s always going to be somewhat accurate but not the most, and I think strokes gained usually is going to be the better representation of how truly everybody is playing.”
Hatton has managed to maintain his world ranking of at least inside the top-30 since joining LIV Golf thus preserving his place in the major championships but he feels the world rankings are not realistic in their current form given the amount of world class players playing on LIV who are unable to qualify for the majors.
“I think there are a lot of guys out here that you certainly want to be playing in the majors,” Hatton said. “If there’s a better pathway for that for us, then that’s brilliant. There are a lot of guys out here; their current world ranking doesn’t really reflect the type of golfer that they are.
“I think everyone would like to think everyone sitting here would agree with that statement. I guess the sooner the world rankings can become a little bit more realistic again, the better it is for golf.”
Lee Westwood moved up a whopping 3759 spots in the world rankings courtesy of his T34 finish at the Open Championship last week which moved him above his son Sam.
Maybe the OWGR is a bit of a mockery…
“With my result last week in the Open Championship, I moved back above my son in the world rankings, which is nice. I think that just proves that without world ranking points it makes a bit of a mockery of the system. It’s good that an application has gone back in,” said the Englishman who has a home game this week being from Nottingham.
“I think mainly it relates back to wanting the best players in the major championships, not wanting this conversation where there’s a few people missing out because we don’t get world ranking points on LIV.
“We either start to get world ranking points on LIV or the major championships have to revise their qualification system, which they seem — some of them seem to want to do but some seem reluctant to do, and they’d have to have a separate qualification system for LIV players, which I don’t think anybody particularly wants. You want it all to be based off the same system.
“It has to be looked at carefully, and somebody has to come up with a — I don’t know if they’re going to back-date it or what, but we’re all starting from a low position. I’ve only got one tournament counting on the world rankings I think and finishing mid 30s last week moved me up like 3,000 spots, which shows that there’s something wrong with the system as it stands.”
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