LIV Golf League ends bid for World Golf Ranking accreditation،
The LIV Golf League has withdrawn its application for recognition of the Official World Golf Ranking, LIV Golf CEO and Commissioner Greg Norman told players in a letter Tuesday.
The LIV Golf League, now in its third season, has been vying for OWGR accreditation since July 2022. World ranking points are used to determine exemptions and other invitations to the four major championships by Augusta National Golf Club, PGA of America, United States Golf. Association and The R&A.
“It is now clear that the best path forward for LIV as a league and for you as LIV golfers is not through the current ranking system,” Norman wrote in the letter. “There no longer exists a resolution protecting the accuracy, credibility, and integrity of the OWGR rankings. We have gone to great lengths to fight for you and ensure your achievements are recognized within the existing rankings system. Unfortunately, The OWGR has shown little willingness to work productively with us.
The OWGR rejected LIV Golf's application on October 23. In a letter to Norman and LIV Golf COO Gary Davidson, OWGR President Peter Dawson said the board was concerned about the lack of turnover among LIV players Golf and lanes limited for other players. join. He also cited concerns about some team aspects of LIV Golf, which allows players to compete in individual and team competitions over 54 holes simultaneously.
The LIV Golf League has made some adjustments to its format to allow four new players to join the league this season via a promotion event and an automatic qualification spot via the Order of Merit in the Asian Tour International Series. This was not enough to satisfy the OWGR board.
“We’re not at war with them,” Dawson told The Associated Press in October. “This decision to not make them eligible is not political. It is entirely technical. The LIV players are obviously good enough to be ranked. They are simply not playing in a format where they can be ranked fairly with the 24 other circuits and thousands of players try to compete with them.”
Golfers have not received world ranking points for their results in LIV Golf League events over the past three seasons, causing many to fall in the rankings.
Only four LIV Golf League players are ranked in the world's top 50. Reigning Masters champion Jon Rahm, who moved from the PGA Tour to the LIV Golf League in December, is ranked No. 3. Englishman Tyrrell Hatton, who joined Rahm's team before this season, is ranked 17th.
Former world number one Brooks Koepka, who won his fifth major championship at the 2023 PGA Championship after finishing second at the Masters, is currently ranked 30th in the OWGR. Australian Cameron Smith, who won the 2022 Open Championship at St. Andrews in Scotland, has risen from second to 50th in the world since joining LIV in August 2022.
“The rankings are structured to penalize anyone who has not played regularly on an 'Eligible Tour,' with field rankings disproportionately rewarding PGA Tour play,” Norman wrote in the letter to LIV players Golf.
“Even if LIV Golf events were immediately awarded points, the OWGR system is designed in such a way that it would be functionally impossible for you to regain positions near the top of the leaderboard, where so many of you were before joining LIV , and deserve to stay based on your performance.”
Other LIV Golf players have seen their world rankings drop even more sharply. Talor Gooch, a three-time LIV Golf League winner and individual tour champion last season, has risen from 35th to 476th in the world since joining the LIV in June 2022. Two-time major champion Dustin Johnson has risen from 13th to ranking. OWGR to 266th after joining LIV Golf in May 2022. Six-time world champion Phil Mickelson has moved from 38th to 147th since joining LIV in June 2022.
“I think it’s almost obsolete now,” Smith said in October. “We have guys here playing some of the best golf in the world and they’re not in the top 100 or 200 in the world. It’s pretty ridiculous.”
Norman said the LIV Golf League would work with the governing bodies of the four major championships to attract more of its players to the courses. Chilean Joaquin Niemann, ranked 76th in the world, received a special invitation to compete in the Masters after winning the Australian Open on December 3.
After scoring his second LIV Golf League victory in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, Niemann said he also received an invitation from the PGA of America to compete in the PGA Championship in May.
