The LIV Golf League on Tuesday formally withdrew its application for Official World Golf Ranking accreditation, saying that the OWGR cannot be an “official” ranking system because it has failed to recognize the performances of LIV golfers in recent years.
LIV first applied to the OWGR for accreditation in July 2022, less than a month after it launched its invitational series of events. Last October, the OWGR formally denied the request, citing LIV’s lack of player pathways as a significant reason for falling short.
In a letter obtained by Sports Illustrated and sent to LIV players competing this week in Hong Kong, CEO and commissioner Greg Norman wrote that “a resolution which protects the accuracy, credibility and integrity of the OWGR rankings no longer exists.
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“We have made significant efforts to fight for you and ensure your accomplishments are recognized within the existing ranking system. Unfortunately, OWGR has shown little willingness to productively work with us.”
According to a high-ranking LIV Golf official, the OWGR as far back as a year ago told LIV it had an issue with its player pathways to the circuit. LIV was in its first full year as a league and had announced plans to have a “Promotions Event” in which three new players would be added via a qualifying tournament, with a fourth to come on board via winning the Order of Merit in the International Series, an elevated series of events on the Asian Tour.
The official said that attempts to get clarity on what was necessary to meet the criteria were unsuccessful.
LIV Golf has also been criticized for having no tournament-to-tournament turnover, as its 54-player field is largely locked, aside from injury or illness changes. The team aspect was also questioned, although LIV Golf maintains its player regulations require playing by the Rules of Golf, which do not allow for giving advice in an individual competition.
The view from LIV Golf has long been that the OWGR—per its own guidelines—does not require any prospective tour to meet all of its qualifications. And it notes that all or none could be achieved and the decision remains solely up to the OWGR board.
That seven-member board is made up of representatives of each of the four major championships as well as PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley and Keith Waters, a DP World Tour executive who oversees the Federation of PGA Tours. The latter three recused themselves from voting on OWGR status for LIV Golf, leaving the decision to the major championship representatives.
“We are not at war with them,” said OWGR board chairman Peter Dawson, the former CEO of the R&A, when quoted by the Associated Press upon LIV’s bid being denied last year. “This decision not to make them eligible is not political. It is entirely technical. LIV players are self-evidently good enough to be ranked. They’re just not playing in a format where they can be ranked equitably with the other 24 tours and thousands of players to compete on them.”
Dawson said at the time that certain guidelines which LIV Golf misses—such as having 36-hole cuts, 72-hole tournaments and an average field size of 75 players were not necessarily deal breakers; they could be dealt with via mathematical format.
It was more the lack of turnover and playing a recurring field from week to week along with the lack of promotion and relegation at the end of a season.
And yet, Dawson acknowledged that high-profile players with LIV who are tumbling down the rankings is a problem. Right now, there are just four LIV golfers who are ranked among the top 50 in the world—three of whom have won major championships in the past two years. The rest are PGA Tour players, which the LIV executive suggested means the OWGR is a “PGA Tour ranking.”
“Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, of course they should be in the ranking,” Dawson said. “We need to find a way to get that done. I hope that LIV can find a solution—not so much their format; that can be dealt with through a mathematical formula—but the qualification and relegation.”
The LIV executive said OWGR never gave it any specific feedback on what would work.
And Norman, in his letter, suggested the OWGR system has left LIV players out so long, it would be difficult to make up the ground lost anyway.
“The rankings are structured to penalize anyone who has not played regularly on an “Eligible Tour” with the field ratings disproportionately rewarding play on the PGA Tour,” Norman wrote. “This is illustrated by the fact only four players inside the top 50 are not PGA Tour players (Jon Rahm (3), Tyrrell Hatton (17), Brooks Koepka (30) and Cam Smith (45)) and by the precipitous decline of LIV players generally, notwithstanding extraordinary performances in LIV events.
“Even if LIV Golf events were immediately awarded points, the OWGR system is designed such that it would be functionally impossible for you to regain positions close to the summit of the ranking, where so many of you belong.”
Norman called for an independent ranking system and said the league continues “to seek meaningful communication and relationships with each of the Majors to ensure that LIV Golfers are fairly represented and golf fans around the world have opportunities to see the best competition possible.”
It is unclear how much communication LIV Golf has had with individual major championships. There have been calls for the majors to give direct exemptions to LIV players, either through its season-ending points list or high finishes in a series of events.
But the same people in charge of the majors are also the ones who denied the OWGR bid.
And in inviting a player such as Joaquin Niemann to this year’s Masters, Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley cited his Australian Open victory and said nothing of his LIV Golf accomplishments, which include victories in two of the first three events this year.
Niemann’s win in Australia earned him a spot in the British Open at Royal Troon and on Monday the PGA of America announced it had awarded him a special invitation to the PGA Championship.
The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which funds LIV Golf, continue to say they are working on an agreement that would bring all the sides together.
Earlier this year, the PGA Tour announced it was joining forces with Strategic Sports Group to help fund its new for-profit PGA Tour Enterprises—where the PIF would also, in theory, be involved. Meanwhile, the tours continue to operate separately.
