Jon Rahm has criticised the Official World Golf Ranking for its decision to only award ranking points to the top-10 finishers per event for the 2026 LIV season.
LIV Golf had already slammed Trevor Immelman and the OWGR for their restrictive process labelling it as ‘unprecedented’ and “disproportionately harms players who consistently perform at a high level but finish just outside that threshold”.
However, OWGR stated that LIV Golf still fell short of certain criteria despite moving to 72-hole events, including their 57 strong field not filling the minimum of 75 needed for full points.
Rahm, who has finished outside of the top-10 in a LIV event just once in his first two seasons feels LIV has put one foot through the door but believes the tour should be treated the same as others.
“Yeah, it’s fantastic that we’re getting points,” the Spaniard said. “It’s fantastic that we’re being recognised in a way.
“With that said, I don’t like how we’re not being treated the same as every other tour. It seems like the rules that have been in place don’t really apply to us, with only ten of us getting points. It doesn’t seem fair. The small fields out there throughout the course of the year, their players get full points.”
He continued: “There’s work to be done. While it’s good for some people, it could cause some players to actually lose world ranking points instead of gaining them because finishing 11th is basically a missed cut, and we’re already adding to the divisor.
“But I’m thankful that I would say LIV Golf got their foot in the door, and there’s a possibility for us to walk in the room and be recognised as a tour, as we should be.”
Meanwhile, Talor Gooch feels the right thing wasn’t done for the benefit of LIV Golf.
“I don’t think the right thing was done, which is not any different than what we’ve experienced here at LIV for the last four or five seasons now.
“Yeah, it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. But I think anybody who says that the right thing was done and the fair thing was done, I don’t think they’re in tune with the reality of things.
“Hopefully there’s some improvement there. Time will tell.”
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