World Rankings body announces system shake-up

No, they’ve not announced the admission of LIV Golf – but the Official World Rankings System have announced some big changes for 2024.

The body have changed the way they distribute ranking points to less than full fields and have introduced bonus points for players who win more than once in a calendar year.

Coming into effect on January 1, top finishers in fields of 80 players or less on all eligible tours will be awarded a greater percentage of available points.

The OWGR believe the current distribution “did not accurately reflect performances in these events”.

In a PowerPoint presentation explaining the changes, they added: “For full field events, OWGR uses a curve that awards approximately 17-18% of the Field Rating to the winner.

“To reflect performances more accurately in fields of 80 players or less, a new curve is needed that awards approximately 21% to the winner in its base calculation.”

Official World Golf Rankings changes: ‘These updates will better position the OWGR for the future’

Players who finish in the bottom 15 per cent of standings for events which do not have a cut will no longer get any points.

But the DP World Tour Championship and the FedEX Cup playoffs, along with some other climatic tour tournaments, will still award points to the entire fields as the OWGR say tours can “nominate final season-ending events or those events that are part of a ‘playoff’ series with eligibility based on season-long performance and where field sizes are significantly reduced from one event to the next to continue to distribute points to the entirety of the field”.

In match play formats, those players who lose their first-round match, or all their matches in a pool format, will also miss out on points.

Players who win for a second time within a 52-week period will now get a 60 percent points bonus, with a 70 per cent bonus handed out to those who win three times or more. The bonus will be capped at four points.

Peter Dawson, OWGR chairman, said: “Based on extensive analysis following the changes implemented in August 2022, we recognised these two opportunities to further enhance the OWGR and to accurately evaluate performances of the of the world’s participating players on all eligible tours.

“Adjustments to the ranking are made after careful consideration, and we are confident that today’s updates will better position the OWGR for the future.”

Now have your say

What do you think? Are these changes good for the rankings? Should they consider admitting LIV Golf as an eligible Tour? Let us know your thoughts with a comment on X.