LIV Golf has ended its quest for Official World Golf Ranking points.
LIV chief executive Greg Norman told the players the league had withdrawn its application in a letter sent on Tuesday in the week of the tour’s Hong Kong event.
“A resolution which protects the accuracy, credibility, and integrity of the OWGR rankings no longer exists,” Norman said in the letter obtained by NCG.
“We have made enormous efforts to fight for you and to ensure your accomplishments are recognised within the existing ranking system. Unfortunately, the OWGR has shown little willingness to productively work with us.
“Having refused to recognise your performances over the last few seasons, the OWGR is not and cannot be an “official” ranking. This decision will remove any ambiguity about its relevance,” he added.
The clamour for world ranking points and pathways to majors for LIV Golfers has been at a fever pitch since the tour’s inception in June, and even louder after its application was rejected last October.
Without access to world ranking points, it is harder for players to qualify for golf’s four biggest tournaments who also don’t have past champion privileges.
OWGR chairman Peter Dawson stated that the committee didn’t believe LIV Golf’s bid was “equitable to thousands of players who strive every day to get starts in OWGR-eligible tournaments to have a tour operate in this mostly closed fashion.”
Several LIV Golf players have been signed to lucrative, multi-year contracts which made them immune to relegation from the league in 2023, no matter how poorly they performed during that season.
Last week, Anthony Kim joined the LIV Golf League and played in the event in Jeddah – a former PGA Tour player who hadn’t made a professional start since 2012.
Dawson also stated the team format running concurrently with the individual format at each of LIV’s tournaments was another concern, citing the example of Sebastian Munoz last April, who was concerned about running a long putt too far by the hole, potentially jeopardising his team’s chances of winning despite being in with a chance of individual glory.
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The LIV Golf world rankings game is up, but what about the majors?
The LIV Golf roster contains 54 players and an abundance of past major champions such as Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith and Brooks Koepka. This trio, plus Tyrrell Hatton, are the only four players from the breakaway tour, and non-PGA Tour players, who currently appear at the top of the world rankings.
Norman named these players in the letter to speculate that “the rankings are structured to penalise anyone who has not played regularly on an “Eligible Tour,” with the field ratings disproportionately rewarding play on the PGA Tour.”
“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.”
In the months leading up to this letter’s arrival on LIV players’ doorsteps, their attention turned to the majors instead of world ranking points.
Bubba Watson told the NCG Golf Podcast that the major organisations, being the Masters, the PGA Championship, the US Open and The Open, should allow 10 spots specifically for LIV Golfers.
Watson’s rebel tour colleague Henrik Stenson echoed this sentiment and Norman asserted in this letter that a dialogue will remain open between LIV Golf and golf’s big four.
“Golf fans deserve to see the best players in the world play in the best tournaments. That has always been our goal. We continue to seek meaningful communication and relationships with each of the Majors to ensure that LIV Golfers are fairly represented and golf fans around the world have opportunities to see the best competition possible.”
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