Tiger Woods may not have featured on the PGA Tour for a while, but after his return at the season-ending Hero World Challenge, he made a huge jump in the world rankings.
While. LIVGolf were frustrated by their snobbery of the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), Tiger Woods was able to take full advantage of the system at the end of the 2023 campaign.
Woods’ season saw him play in just three events, completing only two, after being forced to withdraw from last year’s Masters due to an ankle problem. The injury kept him sidelined for more than seven months, before he was finally able to return to competition at the Hero World Challenge last November.
His recent and long period away from PGA Tour saw him sink to the lowest point of his career in the world rankings, as he headed to the Bahamas late last year outside the world’s top 1,200 golfers.
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And upon his return, unsurprisingly, there was still some rust in his game, as he finished 18th out of 20th at Hero, competing against some of the fittest players on the planet. Despite his disappointing performance, Woods still enjoyed a huge jump in the world rankings.
Due to the ranking points on offer during the limited PGA Tour event, Woods’ 18th-place finish saw him climb 430 places on the list, moving back into the top 900. His jump came at an important time for the ‘OWGR, LIV Golf is still waiting to be recognized by the ranking system.
Although their teams contain some of the best players on the planet, the breakaway league is unable to offer world ranking points to its competitors, something that has since seen Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau fall in the rankings. Woods’ remarkable increase came just over a month after LIV’s last OWGR application was rejected.
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LIV bosses were infuriated by the decision and hit back with a scathing statement criticizing the legitimacy of the rankings. “OWGR’s sole objective is to rank the best players from around the world. Today’s communication makes it clear that it can no longer achieve this objective,” read a statement last October.
“Professional golf now lacks a true scoring and ranking system. There is no benefit to fans or players from the lack of confidence or clarity until players’ best performances are recognized .” This week again, the CEO of LIV Greg Normand reignited his feud with OWGR.
Moving to social media, Norman highlighted the fact that LIV only had five players in the world top 50, three of whom were recent signings. Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and Adrian Meronk. Slamming the rankings once again, Norman called LIV’s current snub “laughable” during his outburst.
