Tiger Woods‘ sudden leap in the OWGR rankings after the Hero World Challenge has spiked a bit of controversy in the golf world. Woods was in 1,328th place in the rankings last week, his career lowest, owing to a medical hiatus from golf. To make it more clear, the golf legend was beside names like Jonathan Agren and Sebastian Heisele. Moreover, only one of these golfers has a Wikipedia page!
But after his 18th place finish with an even-par at the Hero World Challenge, Woods suddenly jumped all the way up to 898th place, a significant 430-place skip that ignited the controversy regarding the legitimacy of the Official Golf World Ranking.
The Hero World Challenge field consisted of only 20 athletes, and being an unofficial PGA Tour event, the jump in ranking gained more traction from golf fans. Besides, Tiger Woods beat only two golfers, Wyndham Clark and Will Zalatoris. The ranking situation was not regarding Woods but with other golfers as well.
Unusual OWGR Rankings to Golfers Spikes Confusion Among Fans
The ranking jump didn’t just happen with Tiger Woods but also with 20th-place finisher Will Zalatoris. His last-place finish at the Bahamas earned him more OWGR points than Alex Fitzpatrick’s eighth-place finish at the ISPS Handa Australian Open, which is a certified DP World Tour event. Zalatoris currently stands in 33rd place in the OWGR rankings.
Will Zalatoris will receive 2.1 world ranking points for his 20th place finish at the Hero World Challenge. Last by 9 shots.
He shot 81-68-79-71.
Alex Fitzpatrick will receive 1.8 for his T8 at The Australian Open.
He shot 68-66-66-74.
It’s time to move on from OWGR.
— LIV Golf Updates (@LIVGolfUpdates) December 3, 2023
Added to this, Justin Thomas (12.03997), who stood in third place in the Tiger Woods’ hosted event, received only two points less than Joaquin Niemann (14.79536), who won the ISPS Handa Australian Open. This has rewarded Justin with 26th place in the world rankings. If he retains his place in the top 30 before the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, then he will be present in the field.
But Thomas will not make it to the Sentry, which considers winners of the previous calendar and the top 50 of the BMW Championship.
Zalatoris, on the other hand, dropped from ninth after his last official start at the WGC-Dell Match Play in March, but his last-place finish—nine shots from 19th place—allowed him to stay 33rd in the OWGR.
The OWGR has previously discarded LIV Golf for its unconventional format and team qualification system, but seemingly the association itself has a goofy ranking system, which is making the golf world question its legitimacy now.
