LIV Golfers Will Not Receive Official World Golf Ranking Points at Debut Event in Mexico
LOS ANGELES – The LIV Golf League will not receive Official World Golf Ranking points for the first event of the 2023 season, which begins next week at Mayakoba in Mexico, Sports Illustrated has learned.
The OWGR has not outright rejected LIV’s application, but instead has come back to the organization with several undisclosed issues. The OWGR does not comment on any ongoing applications.
Recently, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley and DP World Tour COO Keith Waters – who heads the Federation of International PGA Tours – recused themselves from the seven-member OWGR board.
That leaves the OWGR representatives from the organizations that run the four major championships – the Masters, PGA of America, United States Golf Association and R&A -- to decide on LIV Golf’s OWGR fate.
LIV Golf submitted an application in July and in October submitted another application in conjunction with the MENA Tour, a developmental tour in the Middle East that it partnered with in an attempt to have an established tour which is getting points help the LIV causes.
From the beginning, LIV Golf has maintained that the world rankings are not credible if all players are not ranked or given points. Although reigning British Open champion golfer Cam Smith has maintained a spot among the top five in the world, players such as Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Bryson DeChambeau and Sergio Garcia have been slowly slipping because they earned no points during any of the eight events LIV Golf played in 2022.
The OWGR has a number of criteria or guidelines it has in place for applying tours, some of which include having 36-hole cuts and a qualifying school or qualifying access. LIV Golf, for now, includes neither a cut nor weekly qualifying. It’s 48-player field, which also consists of 12 four-man teams, will basically be locked for the coming season.
But the OWGR handbook also states that a prospective tour can be granted points without meeting all the guidelines; or can be denied even if it does meet them. And that the decision rests entirely with the OWGR board, whose chairman is Peter Dawson, former CEO of the R&A.
LIV Golf officials had no comment but have previously said that they have answered questions when asked about the bid and have sought clarity on various issues throughout the process.
The field size and 54-hole events do not seem to be major issues. The ranking system adjusts for smaller fields and several tours that offer ranking points are 54 holes – but do have 36-hole cuts.
After LIV Golf’s event next week, it plays two tournaments in March: in Tucson, Arizona and Orlando, Florida.
Several LIV players have qualified for the Masters, including Talor Gooch, Joaquin Niemann, Harold Varner, Abe Ancer, DeChambeau, Koepka, Jason Kokrak, Kevin Na, Louis Oosthuizen and past champions Phil Mickelson, Johnson, Garcia, Charl Schwartzel and Bubba Watson.