Shark tees off on world rankings

Greg Norman has labelled the Official World Golf Rankings “laughable”, pointing to three alternative systems that would have as many as 10 of his LIV players in the world’s top 50.

Aussie Cameron Smith has fallen to 44, putting his Olympic dream in serious jeopardy, with only five current LIV players, including reigning Masters and PGA champions Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka, inside the top 50

But three of those, Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and Adrian Meronk, only just joined the Saudi-backed tour and haven’t yet felt the full rankings repercussions of their move.

Norman, and other leading players including Smith, have been railing against the validity of the OWGR system, which is used for entries for the four major championships as well as Olympic qualification.

Taking on social media, Norman described the situation as “laughable”.

Norman is an advocate of the Universal Golf Rankings as a better guide, while also suggesting Sports Illustrated’s system is also a more accurate reflection as it weights performances across all tours.

On the UGR current list, there are 10 LIV players in the top 50, including Talor Gooch, who won three times in 2023, beating fields including multiple major champions, but is an unfathomable 427 on the OWGR list.

Even Dustin Johnson, who took out the last LIV event in Las Vegas and is a Masters and US Open winner, is 238.

Fellow Aussie Min Woo Lee is now the second-highest ranked Australian at 42, putting him in prime position to be one of two Australians in Paris.

“It’s a bit of a disadvantage compared to the other Aussie guys,” Smith said last year. “We’ll see what happens, I desperately want to be in Paris.”

Jason Day is No.19, but has said nothing of his Olympic ambition. Adam Scott, who is ranked 48, has declared he wouldn’t go to Paris.