Majors Season Is Here and LIV Golfers Still Don't Have a Path in on Points

The issue about the continued lack of world ranking points for the Saudi-backed league was a topic of conversation again in Singapore. Bob Harig unpacks it all.

More Weekly Read: Talor Gooch and the Fine Print | Fore! Things

The LIV Golf League learned in February that it would not be granted Official World Golf Ranking points for its first event in Mexico. The league wasn’t denied; its application simply remained in limbo.

The issue somewhat dissipated in the following weeks but surfaced again in Singapore—where Talor Gooch won in a playoff over Sergio Garcia on Sunday—when both Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau were asked about the situation and expressed their strong opinions that it was time for the OWGR to grant the controversial league ranking accreditation.

"We have to come up with a qualifying mechanism that is inclusive, and if the World Golf Ranking isn't going to be inclusive, then they have to find another way," Mickelson said. "Maybe they take the top five or top 10 or winners of LIV, but they're going to have to find a way to get the best LIV players in their field if they want to have the best field in golf and be really what major championship is about. So they're already looking at that.

"If the World Golf Ranking doesn't find a way to be inclusive, then the majors will just find another way to include LIV because it's no longer a credible way. So it will all iron itself out for the simple reason that it's in the best interest of everybody, especially the tournaments, the majors, to have the best players."

Respectfully,I don’t need OWGR points nor do I care about them for myself. I’m in 3 majors for the next 13+ years and all four majors through 2025. It’s about doing what’s right and calling out the collusion that’s taking place behind closed doors to help JM get all his tv money.

— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) May 1, 2023

Said DeChambeau: "You should realize that the OWGR is not accurate. I think that they need to come to a resolution or it will become obsolete. It's pretty much almost obsolete as of right now. But again, if the majors and everything continue to have that as their ranking system, then they are biting it quite heavily."

There is a lot to unpack there, so here’s an attempt to sort it out.

> First, the important disclaimer. While Mickelson and DeChambeau are not in danger of missing any major championships in the near term, their colleagues who left for LIV Golf without any long-range major exemptions knew the risk they were taking. Or should have known. There was never any guarantee world ranking points would be afforded—or when.

> The makeup of the OWGR should have also been a warning sign. The seven-member board is comprised of the leaders of the four major championships plus PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley and the head of the International Federation of Tours, Keith Waters—who is a DP World Tour executive. Monahan, Pelley and Waters recused themselves late last year from discussion on the LIV Golf application, which was filed in July.

> The idea that the OWGR is "obsolete" or not "credible" without LIV golfers being ranked at least deserves discussion. An excellent place to start is Dustin Johnson, who is now behind Mickelson outside of the top 70. Even the harshest LIV critic would agree that Johnson is severely under-ranked.

He’s played just three OWGR-counting events since he left for LIV, and his tie for 48th at the Masters didn’t help. But he also had six top-10s including a victory in seven individual LIV events in 2022. And while a LIV tournament would not even get half the points of most PGA Tour events, those finishes would have helped him.

Dustin Johnson doesn't have to worry about majors exemptions anytime soon, which is fortunate for him since the Official World Golf Rankings do him no favors :: Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Network

Via Data Golf’s rankings, which include LIV players, Johnson is 17th in the world. The Sports Illustrated World Golf Rankings, which have just a one-year counting period, have him 37th.

While any ranking system is going to have flaws and potential issues—the task of ranking players around the world who play in different tournaments on different courses is immense and the OWGR has been criticized in the wake of changes made last August—it is fair to argue that the OWGR is not fulfilling its mission to accurately rank golfers worldwide. Its mission does say "eligible golf tours," of which LIV Golf is not at the moment.

At the moment, SI’s ranking has 11 LIV players in the top 50, with Data Golf having 10 and the OWGR having six. Without earning points, the OWGR number will continue to dwindle.

And yet it should be noted that other ranking systems do not necessarily offer a fast-track up the rankings. Thomas Pieters, who remains ranked among the top 50 OWGR, is not in the top 50 for SI or Data Golf.

> Mickelson’s assertion that if the OWGR doesn’t grant points the majors could "take the top five or 10 from LIV" would appear to be unlikely. As it stands now only the British Open affords much in the way of exemptions beyond the PGA Tour.

The Masters' and PGA Championship’s criteria are PGA Tour-heavy and neither have an exemption category for the DP World Tour. The U.S. Open grants spots to the top two DP World Tour players from 2022 who are not otherwise exempt, the top player on the current Race to Dubai standings not otherwise exempt and two players not otherwise exempt from a series of DP World Tour events.

The British Open offers the most spots outside of the PGA Tour. It gives 30 spots from the final Race to Dubai standings from 2022, the top five players not otherwise exempt from the 2023 BMW International Open, plus the winner of the 2022 Argentine Open, the 2002 Japan Open, the final Order of Merit leaders for the Australasian Tour and Sunshine Tour, the top two finishers on the Japan Tour money list for 2022 as well as the top player in a cumulative Japan Tour money list for this year.

The Open is no longer giving a spot to the Order of Merit leader for the Asian Tour, however, which LIV Golf is aligned with via the International Series.

So if the major championships—which make up the voting members who decide on LIV’s OWGR fate—are not offering OWGR points, why would they carve out exemptions for LIV finishers? That seems unlikely.

> Various OWGR followers say there are no technical reasons for not including LIV Golf in the rankings. There are, however, some issues with LIV’s format. While the OWGR’s own handbook states the board can offer points its own discretion, not having a 36-hole cut, not having better access via qualifying and average field size are problems.

But if you want to make the argument for including LIV Golf, it should be noted that if points were granted in its current format, LIV golfers would not be making huge strides, mostly due to field size, which across the world has meant a reduction in points.

A good place to compare is last November’s DP World Tour Championship won by Jon Rahm. It had a 50-player field with no cut. (LIV has 48-player fields with no cut.) It had eight players ranked among the top 50 in the world (LIV has six at the moment). It had three in the top 10. (LIV has one.)

All players count toward a total ranking based on their strokes-gained world rating, but you can generally say that the DP World Tour event had a slightly better field than what a LIV tournament would have right now based on the current OWGR and depth of fields.

Rahm received 21.8 points for winning. Alex Noren and Tyrrell Hatton each got 10.9 for finishing tied for second. A tie for ninth place meant 3.1 points and a tie for 20th meant 1.4.

This week’s Mexico Open on the PGA Tour—in what will be one of the weakest fields of the year for a non-opposite event—gave 29 points to winner Tony Finau. Matt Fitzpatrick received 67 points for winning the RBC Heritage, a designated event, two weeks ago. Corey Conners got 35 points for winning the Valero Texas Open the week prior to the Masters. (All four majors give 100 points to the winner.)

A LIV winner would get in the neighborhood of 20 points for a victory. Anything outside of the top five would be negligible. And to make up any ground, a player would have to do what Gooch has done, win multiple times or have numerous top finishes.

There has been no indication as to when any of this will be resolved. A waiting period of year is one of the guidelines that has not necessarily been followed in the past—points have been granted sooner or later—but if that is of importance, LIV’s application will be a year old on July 8.