LIV ends quest for World Golf Ranking points
The Saudi-backed LIV Golf League has withdrawn its application for Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points, according to multiple US reports on Tuesday. Sports Illustrated, ESPN and The Golf Channel reported LIV Golf commissioner Greg Norman told players in a letter on Tuesday the effort for recognition that began in July 2022 has ended. “It’s now clear that the best way forward for LIV as a league and you as LIV golfers is not through the current ranking system,” Norman said. “A resolution which protects the accuracy, credibility and integrity of the OWGR rankings no longer exists.”
The OWGR, whose points system is used to decide invitations and exemptions into golf’s four major championships, denied LIV Golf’s bid last October, citing concerns about limited paths to joining LIV, a lack of turnover among players and the aspect of simultaneous team and individual competition. LIV made adjustments to create more spots and a relegation system but, Norman wrote, “the OWGR has shown little willingness to productively work with us.” With LIV Golf players getting no points from the circuit’s 54-hole events, many of the big-names that defected from the US PGA Tour have fallen out of the top placings.
Only four LIV golfers are in this week’s world rankings top 50, led by third-ranked Jon Rahm, the reigning Masters champion from Spain who made the switch last December. Others include Britain’s 17th-ranked Tyrrell Hatton, who made the jump in January; five-time major winner Brooks Koepka, an American ranked 30th who won last year’s PGA Championship, and 50th-ranked Cameron Smith of Australia, the 2022 British Open champion. Norman said LIV players have been snubbed for so long that it would be difficult for them to be properly rated even if OWGR began assigning points now for LIV events.
“The rankings are structured to penalize anyone who has not played regularly on an ‘Eligible Tour’ with the field ratings disproportionately rewarding play on the PGA Tour,” Norman said. “Even if LIV Golf events were immediately awarded points, the OWGR system is designed such that it would be functionally impossible for you to regain positions close to the summit of the ranking, where so many of you belong,” he added. LIV and PGA Tour players can compete against each other at majors, with many LIV players having earned their way into the fields at golf’s four top events based on achievements before LIV began in 2022.
But keeping those spots or earning them are tougher without ranking points. A notable exception to the rule this year is Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, who won last year’s Australian Open to earn a spot in this year’s British Open and he was given a special invitation into next month’s Masters. Niemann, who won his second LIV title of the season last weekend at Jeddah, said on Monday he also has received a special invitation to play in May’s PGA Championship. — AFP