Talor Gooch won LIV Golf Adelaide last week in Australia, and his Official World Golf Ranking dropped two spots from No. 57 to No. 59.
The upstart circuit led by Greg Norman and financially backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund applied for OWGR points back in July but is still waiting for an answer, which isn’t too shocking seeing as the process can take up to, or even more than, a year. The lack of OWGR points at LIV events hurts a player’s prospects of qualifying for major championships, and players are still salty about the situation.
“You should realize that the OWGR is not accurate, one,” said Bryson DeChambeau ahead of LIV Golf Singapore this week at Sentosa Golf Club. “Two, I think that they need to come to a resolution or it will become obsolete. It’s pretty much almost obsolete as of right now. But again, if the majors and everything continue to have that as their ranking system, then they are biting it quite heavily.”
LIV Golf is using the OWGR for its 72-hole promotion event, where players ranked within the top 200 will be eligible.
“I believe we’ve just got to focus on the tours and our league, and the top players; if that means the PGA Tour gets 60 to 75 guys from there to be in every major, great. And if that means ten to 15 of our guys, at the end of the year, whoever has the most points get in the majors, great,” said Bubba Watson. “Forget World Ranking points, just who is the best in your tour and our league and go from there. That’s how you do it. It’s simple math.”
Phil Mickelson, one of three LIV players to finish in the top six at the 2023 Masters after his T-2 finish alongside Brooks Koepka, agreed with Watson and thinks the majors will step up.
“It’s going to all iron itself out because if you’re one of the majors, if you’re the Masters, you’re not looking at we should keep these guys out,” Lefty explained. “You’re saying to yourself, ‘We want to have the best field, we want to have the best players, and these guys added a lot to the tournament this year at the Masters. How do we get them included?'”
“We have to come up with a qualifying mechanism that is inclusive, and if the World Golf Ranking isn’t going to be inclusive, then they have to find another way,” he continued. “Maybe they take the top 5 or top 10 or winners of LIV, but they’re going to have to find a way to get the best LIV players in their field if they want to have the best field in golf and be really what major championship is about.”
Cameron Smith (8), Joaquin Niemann (26), Abraham Ancer (37), Brooks Koepka (39), Patrick Reed (46) and Thomas Pieters are the only LIV players currently inside the top 50 of the OWGR. Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson are Nos. 73 and 74.