LIV Golf finally won their fight for Official World Golf Ranking points — but the Saudi-backed golf league did not seem thrilled that only the top 10 finishers each event will get them.
LIV Golf, which is set to begin its fifth season this week, acknowledged In a statement issued on Tuesday afternoon the importance of the moment but criticized the way in which its league was being recognized by the OWGR.
“We acknowledge this long-overdue moment of recognition, which affirms the fundamental principle that performance on the course should matter, regardless of where the competition takes place,” LIV said in its statement.
“However, this outcome is unprecedented. Under these rules, a player finishing 11th in a LIV Golf event is treated the same as a player finishing 57th. Limiting points to only the top 10 finishers disproportionately harms players who consistently perform at a high level but finish just outside that threshold, as well as emerging talent working to establish themselves on the world stage — precisely the players a fair and meritocratic ranking system is designed to recognize.”
Essentially, the rebel golf league will get points based on a “Small Field Tournament” category that is comparable to PGA Tour events that do not have a cut and the Tour Championship.
The world rankings are important because the sport’s four majors use them to help determine the fields, though the U.S. Open, British Open, The Masters and PGA Championship have worked to make sure players who should be part of the field are included.
When LIV first came into existence, it had told its players that they would get ranking points soon, but an attempt to expedite the approval process by the OWGR was rejected and the league was formally denied ranking points in October 2023.
LIV has made some changes in order to dispel concerns about equitably comparing its players with players in other leagues. It moved to a 72-hole tournament with 57-player fields beginning this season.
But the rebel league sees the caveats that the OWGR is putting on them as unfair.
“No other competitive tour or league in OWGR history has been subjected to such a restriction,” LIV Golf said. “We expect this is merely a first step toward a structure that fully and fairly serves the players, the fans, and the future of the sport. We entered this process in good faith and will continue to advocate for a ranking system that reflects performance over affiliation. The game deserves transparency. The fans deserve credibility. And the players deserve a system that treats them equally.”
The decision comes as LIV lost two of its bigger names in Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed, major champs who are both returning to the PGA Tour.
Still, big names such as Bryson DeChambeua and Jon Rahm remain.
OWGR chairman Trevor Immelman called the decision an “incredibly complex and challenging process” and said the organization had devoted “a huge amount of time and energy” to figuring it out.
“We fully recognized the need to rank the top men’s players in the world but at the same time had to find a way of doing so that was equitable to the thousands of other players competing on other tours that operate with established meritocratic pathways,” he said. “We believe we have found a solution that achieves these twin aims and enables the best-performing players at LIV Golf events to receive OWGR points.”
