LIV Golfers Send Letter to OWGR Governing Board Asking for World Ranking Points
LIV Golf players have written a letter to the governing board of the official world golf rankings calling for the organization's tournaments to be included in the ranking system.
"To maintain trust, we urge you—as one of the true statesmen of sports—to act appropriately to include, on a retroactive basis, the results of LIV Golf events in OWGR's ranking calculations," the players wrote to chairman Peter Dawson.
In addition to recognizing the top players in the sport, the world rankings are used to determine invites for tournaments, including majors. Players can accumulate points at events from recognized competitions, including the PGA Tour, DP World Tour (European Tour) and Asian Tour, but LIV Golf has not yet received approval.
"An OWGR without LIV would be incomplete and inaccurate, the equivalent of leaving the Big 10 or SEC out of the U.S. college football rankings, or leaving Belgium, Argentina, and England out of the FIFA rankings," the LIV Golf players added.
LIV Golf has lured some of the biggest names in the sport in recent months, including Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Cameron Smith and Brooks Koepka. Most received large guaranteed contracts along with the promise of shorter schedules.
The lack of world ranking points is still an issue, especially if it prevents players without exemptions from competing in future events.
"I suppose there's a lot on the line with the ranking points, getting into majors, stuff like that," Smith said Sunday after his LIV Golf win. "There needs to be (a resolution) quite soon, I think. The field here is strong enough and deep enough to where it warrants that, and hopefully it's soon."
Though the fields are filled with top talent, the rule differences could be enough to keep LIV Golf out of the ranking system. Each tournament features just three rounds with only 48 players and no cuts.
Another holdup could be the OWGR governing board, which includes PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan. The recent letter says four of eight members of the board have "connections" to the PGA Tour, which "views LIV Golf as an antagonist."
It could create an uphill battle for those in the new organization looking for recognition.
