Last week’s season opener in Riyadh was a historic one for LIV Golf, but Sergio Garcia sees a potential for problems down the road.
Eleven players, including winner Elvis Smylie, were the first to collect Official World Golf Rankings points at a LIV event after the OWGR announced it would give points to players who finish inside the top 10 at LIV events.
“This has been an incredibly complex and challenging process and one which we have devoted a huge amount of time and energy to resolving in the seven months since LIV Golf submitted their application,” OWGR chairman Trevor Immelman said in a statement. “We fully recognized the need to rank the top men’s players in the world but at the same time had to find a way of doing so that was equitable to the thousands of other players competing on other tours that operate with established meritocratic pathways.”
The OWGR’s decision loomed over the first week in Riyadh, with most players happy the league was finally being recognized but upset about the top-10 cutoff. LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil called the OWGR’s decision “unprecedented.” Jon Rahm claimed it wasn’t fair.
Garcia is happy LIV has finally been recognized by the OWGR after four seasons. The decision should benefit young players like Smylie and Josele Ballester by giving them a pathway to major championships as they begin their professional careers. But Garcia thinks the top-10 cutoff will end up being an anchor. One or two weeks outside the top 10 at a LIV event and all of your OWGR gains will disappear.
“It’s definitely a step forward,” Garcia said ahead of LIV Adelaide in Australia. “Is it fair? I mean, I guess time will tell us. It doesn’t feel like it’s totally fair. With time, obviously. Now, the first few weeks obviously, when one of us is winning, that guy is going to make a jump in the rankings, which is great. But then every time you finish 11th or worst you’re getting a zero and you’re getting an extra event on your divisor. So that in the near, a little farther future, it can hurt a lot. But like I said, it’s a step forward, so it is positive.”
LIV Golf altered its format this offseason by moving from 54 holes to 72. That move has been polarizing, with Rahm endorsing the move while Bryson DeChambeau and others remain skeptical.
On Tuesday, Garcia was asked if he thought that LIV should institute a small cut for the 57-man field each week. Garcia took the opportunity to jab at the OWGR’s decision to only award points to players who finish in the top 10.
“I mean, you could make like a little cut, but I don’t think it makes that much of a difference,” Garcia said. “I think when it comes down to world ranking points, they’ve already made a cut for us in the top 10. It’s kind of like an unwritten rule, you may say.”
That “unwritten rule” has ruffled many feathers on LIV, but Smylie, the 23-year-old Australian who jumped to No. 77 in the world after last week’s win in Riyadh, is taking a positive view of this development. With points now up for grabs on LIV, the young Australian sees this as a golden opportunity to play good golf and punch his ticket to all four majors. All he has to do is keep the pedal down and secure the points that are available.
“Definitely top 50 in the world means that you get in all four majors, which I’m very close to achieving, so it’s great that we do get recognition,” Smylie said. “At the end of the day, good golf takes care of itself, and yeah, try and win a few more times. Ultimately, the Masters is something that’s on my mind now. That’s a conversation that I can start to have and that is fuel to the fire for me.”
So while LIV didn’t get “the whole pie,” as Talor Gooch put it, the league now has more points than it ever has before. It helped Smylie skyrocket 56 spots in the rankings and will allow other players to climb as long as they play good golf. With only top 10 and ties being awarded points, a smaller number of players will have a chance to make sizable gains if they string tournaments together.
In the end, the “unwritten rule” might wind up being the wind in the sails of the few players who dominate the breakaway league while leaving those who struggle to continue their OWGR free-fall.
This article originated on Golf.com
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