It’s continued to be a contentious hurdle within LIV’s ever-growing ascent into world golf – and now the players have acted. In their bid to obtain world ranking points for playing in Greg Norman’s league, all 48 LIV golfers have signed a joint letter to the Official World Golf Rankings pleading for the organisation to grant its status.
Penned to CEO Peter Dawson, the letter urges the OWGR to “act appropriately” and include LIV Golf in its ranking calculations, claiming failure to do so will deny fans “what they deserve”, while undermining “the historical value of the system.”
The letter reads: “We urge you – as one of the true statesmen of sports – to act appropriately to include, on a retroactive basis, the results of LIV Golf events in OWGR’s ranking calculations.
“Every week that passes without the inclusion of LIV athletes undermines the historical value of OWGR.”
The joint letter, signed by the likes of Cameron Smith, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, also took aim at what they believe is the “conflicted” nature of the OWGR, arguing the connections of its board members to the PGA Tour are “keeping the OWGR from acting as it should.”
It continued: “The case for LIV’s inclusion is strong, but we have concerns that members of your Governing Board are conflicted and are keeping the OWGR from acting as it should.
“Four of the eight members have connections to the PGA Tour, which unfortunately views LIV Golf as an antagonist. Other members of the board have made unfairly harsh remarks about LIV, with one of them calling the organisation “not credible.”
“How can such a system possibly exclude players competing at such high levels against some of the strongest fields of the year for large purses, at such high-profile events?”
The letter also confirms that LIV formally applied for admission into the OWGR in July, but claims it has since been “slow walked” to the detriment of all its players – who have continued to slump down the rankings.
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LIV Golf currently fails to meet several OWGR criteria required for eligibility. This includes not having a field size greater than 75, not contesting events over 72 holes, and not enforcing a cut-line.
“We understand that LIV Golf formally applied for admission to the OWGR in mid-July. We hope the story we read today about the decision being slow walked so LIV golfers will slide down and to harm LIV is not accurate.
“We call on you to render a positive decision quickly – for the benefit of the integrity of the rankings, the game and all of us who love the sport.
“After all, the fans deserve rankings that are inclusive and accurate. Failure to include 48 of the world’s best golfers would mean the fans are being denied what they deserve.”
