RANKS FOR NOTHING

Rahm blasts ranking system as latest PGA Tour event worth double the points of Dubai’s star-studded DP World Tour finale

JON RAHM branded the Official Golf World Rankings system as “laughable” and called for future LIV rebel events to be given points.

The Spaniard (above) has always been more conciliatory towards the Saudi-backed breakaway league and has refused to condemn his compatriots Sergio Garcia and Eugenio Lopez-chacarra for signing up.

Even Rory Mcilroy has softened his position to call for peace talks, although only if LIV sack their commissioner Greg Norman.

But the world No.1 has publicly backed the adjusted OWGR system launched in August – Mcilroy was even consulted about the changes – which see more points given to America’s PGA Tour events based on the depth of the field rather than the quality.

So this week’s RSM Classic in Georgia, where no stars are teeing up, has nearly twice as many points on offer as the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in

Dubai where Mcilroy, Rahm and US Open champ Matt Fitzpatrick are all in the top 10.

Rahm said: “I’m going to be as blunt as I can. The OWGR right now is laughable. Laughable.

“The fact that the RSM, which doesn’t have any of the top 20 in the world, has more points than this event where we have seven of the top 20 is laughable. The fact that Wentworth had less points than the Fortinet Championship, having players in the top 10, in the world is laughable.

“I don’t care what their system says. They have made a mistake.”

World rankings have never been more talked about, with LIV stars and officials campaigning for points to be awarded for their events.

Dustin Johnson (above) has fallen to world No.38 despite winning the LIV team and individual titles this year, while Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter have dropped out of the top 130.

“A lot of people are against them having world ranking points,” added 2021 US Open winner Rahm.

“I’m not necessarily against it, but there should be adjustments. If your requirement is to have world ranking points as 72 holes and a cut, maybe you don’t award them 100 percent of the points since they are not fulfilling all of the requirements.

“Let’s give them 75 percent. They do have some incredible players. To say Dustin wasn’t one of the best players this year would be a mistake.”

Mcilroy leads the race to win the order of merit for a fourth time by only 128.1 points from Ryan Fox.

“Rory is the best player in the world,” said the Kiwi “He’s the favourite but I’ve got nothing to lose this week.”

Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry and Adrian Meronk are also in contention.