Greg Norman: LIV Golf to Apply for Official World Golf Ranking Points Consideration

Greg Norman is reportedly looking to take another step to legitimize the LIV Golf Invitational Series.

According to ESPN's Mark Schlabach, Norman said LIV Golf will apply for Official World Golf Ranking points consideration on Monday. Norman, who is the CEO of LIV Golf, believes the upstart circuit has a "very compelling" application.

Norman will likely face a stiff roadblock in the form of PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, who is one of eight members of the OWGR board of governors. However, the 67-year-old doesn't sound worried about it, and he raised the question of whether Monahan should even be allowed to take part in the voting process.

"It'll be interesting to see if Jay Monahan recuses himself from that vote because of what he said on television with [CBS Sports announcer] Jim Nantz the other day," Norman said in an interview with Fox News. "So, it's very interesting and it's sad to be, you know, putting that additional exerting pressure on it because our tour is a good tour. ... Our point should be that if we get the OWGR points, then everything else takes care of itself."

Monahan spoke with Nantz last Sunday during the final round of the RBC Canadian Open, and he defended his decision to suspend the 17 players who competed in the first LIV Golf event.

"It's my job to protect, defend and celebrate our loyal PGA Tour members, our partners and our fans," Monahan said. "And that's exactly what I did. And I don't think it was a surprise to anybody, given how clear I had been about how we were going to handle this situation."

Six-time major champion Phil Mickelson, two-time major winner Dustin Johnson and longtime PGA Tour members Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Louis Oosthuizen and Kevin Na were among the golfers who competed in LIV's inaugural event. 2020 U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and 2018 Masters winner Patrick Reed are expected to join the field for LIV's second competition.

Monahan stated that any golfers who compete for LIV will be ineligible for PGA Tour events going forward. The LIV Golf Series is backed by the Saudi Arabian government, which has an extensive history of human rights abuses.

Norman also asserted that the PGA Tour doesn't have room to criticize LIV because of its own dealings with the Saudis.

"If they want to look at it in prism," Norman said, "then why does the PGA Tour have 23 sponsors doing $40-plus billion worth of business with Saudi Arabia? Why is it OK for the sponsors? Will Jay Monahan go to each and every one of those CEOs of the 23 companies that are investing into Saudi Arabia and suspend them and ban them? The hypocrisy in all this, it's so loud. It's deafening."

LIV Golf events are usually 54 holes over three rounds and 48-man fields, down from the 72-hole format on the PGA Tour, which can host fields as large as 156 players. Because of this, LIV would likely get reduced points if it ever does receive recognition from the OWGR.