OWGR board denies LIV Golf request for world rankings points over league’s qualification standards

Golf however with out ranked golfers will stay true for LIV Golf after the league’s utility for Official World Golf Rankings points was once rejected by means of the OWGR board on Tuesday. In a remark to the Associated Press, OWGR chairman Peter Dawson detailed the reasoning in the back of the denial whilst explaining that political indifferences didn’t play an element within the resolution. 

“We are not at war with them,” Dawson stated. “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 trying to compete on them.”

One of the massive issues for avid gamers who left the PGA Tour or DP World Tour for LIV is that the trail again into primary championships proved harder than in all probability they imagined. One simple method into majors is by means of being ranked extremely within the OWGR. That door hasn’t ever been open, but if LIV submitted its utility to obtain OWGR points, it was once no less than cracked open somewhat.

That is till Tuesday’s news got here out. The downside isn’t 54-hole occasions or small fields however reasonably the similar downside that has all the time existed: Certain avid gamers, regardless of how badly they play, are not able to fall out of the league.

For instance, in a no-cut league, you should theoretically have avid gamers who signed long-term contracts with sure leagues who’re taking pictures within the 90s and 100s and nonetheless receiving OWGR points. This isn’t the case in maximum circumstances with different leagues. Below is a short lived rationalization from the AP:

LIV Golf League has the similar 48 avid gamers for all of the season (with alternates in case of harm) and no longer sufficient turnover. While the highest 24 avid gamers are confident a place the next season, LIV Golf signed a number of avid gamers to profitable contracts that guarantee them a place at the roster irrespective of their efficiency.

Still, Dawson didn’t slam the door close on LIV avid gamers, necessarily hanging the ball within the league’s courtroom if it desires its golfers to ultimately be capable of earn rankings points.

“Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, of course they should be in the ranking,” Dawson stated. “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.”

This isn’t out of the query. LIV lately has a tiny qualification manner thru a promotions event and in addition for the order of advantage winner for the International Series at the Asian Tour. It may feasibly enlarge this qualification to a host that the OWGR deems affordable sufficient to be awarded points. However, a part of the enchantment of LIV is that you will see sure stars at all times. Alternatively, the one explanation why the ones stars signed with LIV is as a result of they have been assured contracts and roster spots. That’s going to be a troublesome factor to reconcile with the OWGR.

Regardless, all of this can be a moot level relying on what occurs with the PGA Tour’s dating with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which lately price range LIV. Following a truce to finish the litigation between the Tour and the PIF, the 2 are engaged in talks over a framework deal that can make a decision the way forward for no longer handiest the Tour but additionally LIV Golf. While it was once in the past anticipated that that deal can be labored out by means of the top of the yr, fresh stories counsel that it would spill over into 2024.

Will that settlement imply LIV is going away? Will it imply LIV merges with the Tour? Will it imply you’ll be able to play each excursions? Nobody is aware of the ones solutions for at the moment. What we do know is that LIV continues to be no longer a perfect trail into enjoying primary championships, which isn’t an exquisite trait to a league allegedly nonetheless seeking to develop its footprint.