The “main question” why LIV Golf has yet to receive ranking points – GolfWRX

LIV Golf and the OWGR ranking points system – a saga that never seems to end.

Over the past year or so, the Greg Norman-led tour created a “strategic alliance” with the third-tier MENA Tour, which Atul Khosla, then president and COO of LIV Golf, said was to “Creating courses that provide more opportunities for young players, while also providing fans with leaderboards that include all the best golfers in the world.”

Within days, high-ranking PGA Tour players joined us. with their points of viewwith 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama among those who think those who left the PGA and DPWT tours “should be able to do it.”

However, despite all the camaraderie, Deki, alongside Rory McIlroy, and Viktor Hovland agreed with the latter’s statement: “They (LIV) obviously have to follow the process, whatever it is. »

Confused?

Among the broken rules of the “process” appeared to be shotgun starts and the 54-hole tournament style, something that was negated once the OWGR, golf’s primary ranking organization, got ranking points at the Gira de Golf Professional de Mexicana in three rounds at the end of the year.

The move understandably angered LIV, especially just weeks after Norman said

“I understand they have a process. I understand all that. But the OWGR was never prepared for a new entity like LIV Golf. Sometimes you have to expect the unexpected. When someone presents an incredible business model that works, and as we’ve demonstrated, you have to have the flexibility and adaptability to enable a new entity to come along.

“OWGR was never ready for this type of approach.”

Of course, everyone involved in LIV weighed in and naturally attacked the OWGR for its continued refusal to at least recognize the winners of their events.

Last week, Phil Mickelson, the first golfer to sign for LIV all those months ago, gave an impassioned response to Colt Knost’s question as to why the tour simply didn’t meet the OWGR criteria in the first place.

“Colt, that’s not our job.” wrote the six-time major champion. “It’s the job of the OWGR to rank EVERY player in the world. Maybe they can do THEIR job and figure it out like they do on multiple tours with hundreds of players not even that close. good but It would hurt the PGA’s revenue from CBS, so executives won’t do it.

Then barely a week ago, Home collective Contributor Alan Shipnuck suggested the lines between the PGA and LIV Tours were becoming blurred and ranking points would almost certainly be awarded soon. Either way. If they meet a criteria, I guess.

In his Ask Alan columnthe author of Phil Mickelson’s unauthorized biography said that, in his view, “an extra round gives the better player more opportunity to separate, but 54 holes have a certain urgency and demand three good scores with little margin for d ‘error”.

Indeed, he declares, “Next year, nine of the 12 high events will have no rake, which means… more guaranteed money for players. LIV and Tour products are therefore becoming more and more similar.

As for the ranking of LIV players,

“The OWGR had a set of pre-established criteria, and the board follows them to the letter. July will be one year since LIV submitted its application”, and this, after having spoken to the leaders,

“The main problem is that LIV does not meet the average field size of 75.”

This should not, however, prevent the awarding of points, as “the ranking itself will automatically penalize LIV, based on the revised algorithm – announced in August 2021, before LIV launched – which favors full fields over smaller ones. »

Shipnuck explains how the “major championships control the OWGR” and “are inherently selfish and want what’s best for their respective tournaments.”

The official list simply makes no sense as a barometer of a player’s ranking, which is why we see players like LIV points leader Talor Gooch – one of the hottest players in the game – falling from 57th to 63rd despite back-to-back wins at LIV. Adelaide and LIV Singapore.

More and more experts and fans are turning to Data Golf to rank players in order of current ability, a site on which Gooch ranks 27th, two behind Dustin Johnson, who is 81st on the OWGR.

Shipnuck concludes that things will soon have to get better:

“A more inclusive OWGR is the only thing that makes sense. Anti-LIV people may cling to specific language in the musty criteria of the OWGR Bylaws, but we live in unprecedented times and a little flexibility is the best way forward…especially for the OWGR, which will become obsolete if it does not do so. follow its mission to rank all professional golfers.