There is often been a debate regarding which world ranking system is more accurate. Is it the OWGR or the TUGR? Recently, ahead of the 2024 PGA Championship, Jerry Foltz and Su-Ann Heng talked about the same on the Fairway To Heaven Podcast on YouTube. Both of them criticized OWGR and its ranking criteria. Foltz was more adamant that the Official World Golf Rankings favored the PGA Tour more and more as it brought about changes in its rules. He further explained that TUGR works on different formulas and has a more accurate way of ranking golfers regardless of which Tour they play on.
Foltz called the OWGR more of a “handicapping system” that offers points as per the strength of the field in a particular tournament. However, the TUGR offers points in more of an output result.
“Every time they change the rules, it only benefits the PGA Tour side of things to the point now where you can’t qualify for majors if you don’t play on the PGA Tour if you weren’t already up there in the world rankings… Yours is more of what I call a worldwide handicapping system… It becomes a worldwide handicapping system.”
Meanwhile, Su-Ann took the example of Dean Burmester, who is ranked 130th on the OWGR and 30th on TUGR. She highlighted that the South African has won two tournaments on the Sunshine Tour and has a LIV Golf victory that easily made him rank in the world’s top 50.
“I mean, there’s some that I’ve really like, they match your WGR, like your Rahm, your Koepka. But then there are some that the discrepancy is so big. I mean, Dean Burmester on the OWGR, he’s 130th in the world. On TUGR, he’s 30th, which to me, just watching him play obviously this season, but also then him winning twice in the offseason really truly reflects how good of a player he is. And there’s no question he’s a top 50 player in the world.”
The golf analysts also talked about the case of Talor Gooch. The 2023 LIV Golf Individual Champion is 644th on the OWGR. However, TUGR ranks him on 16th rank which looks more accurate considering his form. Furthermore, Louis Oosthuizen is another unlucky golfer on OWGR standing on 125th in the world. However, the South African stands on 46th on the TUGR.
Jerry Foltz calls the PGA Championship field the strongest among all majors
Recently, the PGA of America announced the final field for the 2024 PGA Championship. They have invited six more LIV Golfers including Gooch and David Puig. Now, a total of 16 players from the Saudi-backed league will feature at Valhalla next week. While speaking on the Fairway to Heaven podcast, Foltz called the upcoming major’s field the strongest in the world. He reasoned by giving the 644th OWGR player Gooch’s invitation as an example. The LIV broadcaster also questioned the other major officials on when they would stop backing the PGA Tour and invite more players from all across the globe.
“When you invite the OWGR number 644 out of nowhere, he’s not, he’s not the 644th greatest golfer in the world… I just don’t know when the other majors are going to catch on because I honestly think that, the USGA and the R&A need the PGA Tour to prevent the absolute sh*t show. That’s going to happen when they roll back the ball.”
Foltz and Su-Ann also talked about the PGA Championship conversation going around between Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka. The former noted that if Koepka managed to win the upcoming major next week, he would win all his six majors in back-to-back editions. He also quoted that it was a record that neither Tiger Woods nor Jack Niklaus has under their belt.
Whatever happens at Valhalla Golf Course next week will be spectacular. Will Koepka win his sixth major title? Or will it be Jon Rahm claiming his first PGA Championship title to come close to a career grand slam?
