With the news of LIV Golf losing its bid for the Official World Golf Rankings dropping a bomb on the Saudi-backed league’s aspirations, the tour’s future is yet again engulfed in a storm of uncertainty. OWGR Chairman Peter Dawson, in his statement made it clear that the OWGR will not twist its rules to fit the Saudi-funded tour:
“The (OWGR) Board Committee has determined the current structure (of LIV) is not consistent with the underlying principles of fairness and meritocracy on which the OWGR system is based.”
OWGR are a benchmark for players and their respective tours to provide a quantitative backing and fair evaluation of their performance; and also a one-way ticket into the majors. And with the bid being rejected, LIV golfers now face a vexing conundrum. Is this the beginning of the end for LIV Golf?
OWGR Demands a Complete Restructure of LIV’s Format
LIV Golf has always received backlash for its non-traditional 54-hole, no-cut format. But the deal-breaker came with the league guaranteeing spots to its players regardless of their performance, bundled up with the lack of a proper passageway for golfers to earn their way into the tour.
“Simply put, the Board Committee does not believe it equitable for thousands of players who strive every day to get started in OWGR Eligible Tournaments to have a tour operate in this mostly closed fashion where it is not possible to fairly assess what it means to win a LIV event relative to other tournaments around the world,” the letter stated.
All in all, the OWGR doesn’t see LIV Golf as an “eligible golf tour.” They believe that LIV needs to get back to the drawing board and work out a structure that invites players objectively based on their recent performance and disrates underperforming players more rapidly and equitably.
What This Decision Means for LIV Golf
According to this week’s ranking, there are just six LIV golfers among the top 100 on the OWGR. Golfers like Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Talor Gooch (with three LIV Golf wins) stand ousted from the top 100 despite their amazing performances this year. And players like Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood, and Ian Poulter, who failed to make the top 24 in the LIV rankings, are guaranteed a place in the next season nonetheless.
Basically LIV has created a sinkhole for itself with its format, and unless it reforms it to make it fair and equitable, they’re not eligible to earn ranking points. LIV Golf, went on to release a statement in response to the decision stating:
“OWGR’s sole objective is to rank the best players across the globe. Today’s communication makes it clear that it can no longer deliver that objective.”
The response gives an indication that LIV wants to have its players ranked solely because it has great players. To which Dawson did agree saying,
“LIV players are self-evidently good enough to be ranked,” he told the Associated Press. “They’re just not playing in a format where they can be ranked equitably with the other 24 tours and thousands of players that compete on them.”
The only hope that LIV has is the Framework Agreement with the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. LIV CEO Greg Norman’s promise regarding getting the OWGR for his players has fallen apart. And that’s not a good sign for LIV if the agreement doesn’t go through, because that would make bringing in big names, absolutely impossible, putting the future of the league in limbo.
