Jon Rahm has ensured that the LIV series is not the only cause of consternation within golf - by blasting the sport's 'laughable' new world ranking system.
Rahm attacked the ranking system shortly after world No.1 Rory McIlroy had defended the setup - that he was involved in creating - before its implementation in August. The Spaniard is perplexed that the showpiece DP World Tour season-finale in Dubai carries half the ranking points of a regular PGA Tour event in Georgia.
European stars Rahm and McIlroy both feature in this weekend's Race to Dubai finale. The the 50-strong field, that includes seven of the world's top 25, are playing for less ranking points than the PGA Tour's RSM Classic, which has a field of 156, but boasts only four players inside the world's top 30.
And outspoken Rahm believes the new system, which is determined by ratings based on the strength of a tournament's field, is nonsensical.
“I'm going to be as blunt as I can. I think the OWGR [Official World Golf Rankings] right now is laughable,” he said. “Laughable, laughable, laughable. The fact that the RSM doesn't have any of the top 25 in the world but has more points than this event where we have seven of the top 25 is laughable.
“The fact that Wentworth [BMW PGA Championship] had fewer points than Napa [for the simultaneous Fortinet Championship] is laughable.
“Look, I understand what they are trying to do with the depth of field but having the best players in the world automatically makes the tournament better. I don't care what their system says. I think they’ve made a mistake. They have devalued the value of the better players.”
The champion in Dubai is set to gain around 22 points in the rankings as the tournament has a field rating of 121 points, while the RSM event in Georgia is set to have 38.38 points up for grabs for the winner due to its higher field strength rating of 223.16. And McIlroy, who is on the Player Advisory Committee and helped engineer such changes, has insisted that the new system is a 'fairer' way of doing things.
"You've got a 50-man field here versus a 144-man field there," he said. "So just in terms of how the strengths of field is calculated, they have 90 more players to contribute to their strength of field. "So the reason that this has got 21 points and the RSM has got 39 is the person that wins the RSM has to beat 139 other guys. You only have to beat 49 other guys here."
But while Rahm acknowledges that the change awards points based on the number of ranked players rather than the specific quality of a field, he is adamant that more impressive triumphs should warrant higher reward.
“I understand they are giving certain value to the depth of the field,” Rahm added. “But would you rather win a tournament when you have the No. 1 player in the world or because you have the 30th? I think it's more valuable if you're beating the best players in the world. I think a lot of people would agree and it should reflect that.”
