PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, European tour CEO Keith Pelley and Keith Waters of the International Federation of PGA Tours recused themselves from the LIV Golf decision to avoid any conflict of interest; LIV Golf can reapply to be part of the Official World Golf Ranking system
By Associated Press
Last Updated: 10/10/23 7:57pm
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Jamie Weir explains why the Official World Golf Ranking board have come to the conclusion that LIV Golf players will not be able to earn world ranking points.
Jamie Weir explains why the Official World Golf Ranking board have come to the conclusion that LIV Golf players will not be able to earn world ranking points.
LIV Golf is playing only for cash, not world ranking points, after the Official World Golf Ranking board determined it could not fairly measure the 48-man league with the other 24 tours around the world.
The OWGR rejected the application from Saudi-backed LIV Golf, first submitted in July 2022 after the league already had played two of its 54-hole, no-cut events.
“We are not at war with them,” Peter Dawson, chairman of the OWGR board, said when contacted by The Associated Press.
“This decision not to make them eligible is not political. It is entirely technical.
“LIV players are self-evidently good enough to be ranked. They’re just not playing in a format where they can be ranked equitably with the other 24 tours and thousands of players trying to compete on them.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Sky Sports’ Jamie Weir reveals the latest details about how the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and DP World Tour merger will work.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, European tour CEO Keith Pelley and Keith Waters of the International Federation of PGA Tours previously recused themselves from the LIV Golf decision to avoid any conflict of interest.
The PGA Tour, European tour and Saudi backers of LIV Golf (Public Investment Fund) are currently working out a commercial partnership that was announced in June.
The committee that rejected LIV’s application comprised leaders from Augusta National, the PGA of America, the US Golf Association and The R&A, which run the four majors. The majors use the OWGR as part of their qualifying criteria.
LIV Golf made its debut in June 2022, with players who joined the rival league suspended by the PGA Tour and European tour, ensuring that their only access to points was the majors.
When LIV Golf complete its inaugural season, it had 12 players from the top 50 in the world (led by British Open champion Cameron Smith) and 24 of the top 100. In this week’s ranking, Smith (15th) and PGA champion Brooks Koepka (18th) are the only players from the top 50, and LIV has only six players among the top 100.
Talor Gooch of RangeGoats GC celebrates winning on the 18th green during the final round of LIV Golf Andalucia back in July
Among those no longer in the top 100 are Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Talor Gooch, who has three LIV Golf victories this year.
“Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, of course they should be in the ranking,” Dawson added. “We need to find a way to get that done.
“I hope that LIV can find a solution – not so much their format; that can be dealt with through a mathematical formula – but the qualification and relegation.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Speaking ahead of the US Open, Sergio Garcia claimed that if LIV Golf was to disband he would look to re-join the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour.
LIV Golf can reapply to be part of the OWGR system, though the board made it clear that turnover, objective access to LIV Golf and relegating players who don’t perform remain key points in getting ranking points.
‘Ruling a hammer blow to LIV Golf’
Sky Sports News’ Jamie Weir:
“Essentially, LIV Golf have been hoisted by their own petard. Their format, which amounts to a closed shop, is the reason why they won’t be getting world ranking points – as things stand the moment.
“They are able to change their format and reapply, but the fact that they are the same 48 players competing against each other the whole time – there isn’t enough fluctuation, there isn’t promotion and relegation to change that – is what means that, under the OWGR’s regulations, they’re not eligible to earn ranking points.
“There’s the likes of Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter on these guaranteed contracts where, regardless of how they perform – and they’re all sitting outside the top 24 in LIV at the moment – they are guaranteed their place next year.
“I suppose if you think about it as a young golfer trying to work your way up through the feeder tours on to the PGA Tour and you grind away to make a cut, it’s only then that you start earning world ranking points. Well, how could it be fair then that somebody who is invited onto an invitational tour or into a closed shop gets world ranking points just by dint of turning up. That is the real issue.
“As I say, they are still able to reapply, but there’s no doubt, this is a hammer blow for LIV Golf.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Rory McIlroy says the merger between PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf ‘is not LIV’ and reassures fans he still ‘hates LIV Golf’.
“The major caveat though that we need to put in here is that nobody, and I mean nobody, in world golf knows what the future holds. We’re all in this kind of limbo status at the moment where we don’t know what the outcome is of this deal that blindsided everybody back in June between the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
“How is men’s professional golf going to look next year? Is LIV Golf going continue to exist? Are those players who left going to be reintegrated back into PGA Tour? Do they even want to be reintegrated back into the PGA Tour and how’s that tour going to look? These are all questions that are completely unanswered at the moment.”
Get the best prices and book a round at one of 1,700 courses across the UK & Ireland
