LIV Golf denied world ranking points, marking another setback for breakaway league
The Official World Golf Rankings insisted that the decision to continue to exclude LIV Golf was not political, but rather a technical one
LIV Golf players will not receive world ranking points for their competitions, the Official World Golf Rankings announced, marking a significant setback to the breakaway tour's bid to be an attractive alternative to the PGA Tour.
World ranking points are used to determine entry into golf's four majors for players who do not qualify via in-season victories or previous wins, among other categories. The majors — the Masters, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open and the British Open — remain golf's crown jewels and a lifetime goal for players on both the PGA Tour and the LIV Golf tour. Without easy access to the majors, LIV Golf becomes a much less enticing alternative to the PGA Tour.
“We are not at war with them,” OWGR board chairman Peter Dawson told 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.”
LIV Golf was always facing a daunting fight to get its tournaments certified because of its small field size and no-cut format. OWGR tournaments feature cuts and larger fields, but there is, in the OWGR's eyes, an insufficiently defined route of promotion to, and relegation from, the LIV Golf tour.
Brooks Koepka, who won the PGA Championship earlier this year, is the highest-ranked LIV player at No. 18. Patrick Reed is 62nd, former No. 1 Dustin Johnson has fallen to 121st, and Sergio Garcia has fallen all the way to 375th.
LIV Golf issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon slamming the decision.
"Professional golf is now without a true or global scoring and ranking system," the league said, in part. "There is no benefit for fans or players from the lack of trust or clarity as long as the best player performances are not recognized."
— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) October 10, 2023
Two events remain in the LIV Golf season, the individual championship in Jeddah and the team championship in Miami. LIV's financial backer, the Saudi Public Investment Fund, is in the process of devising a partnership agreement with the PGA Tour for future golf events. The status of that agreement, which surprised the golf world in June, remains up in the air.
