LIV Turns Back on OWGR: Withdraws Application for Official Accreditation

In a letter sent to LIV players this week, CEO Greg Norman says the Tour will no longer pursue OWGR eligibility. So wait, LIV is throwing in the towel?

We have all seen the ‘chip-on-the-shoulder’ style comments from the in-form Joaquin Niemann, who after just winning the $4,000,000 prize at LIV Jeddah, lambasted his world ranking. Niemann is one of the most in-from golfers right now and will be a good bet for Augusta, having played his way in on a special exemption.

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The Saudi backed league formally withdrew its application for official world ranking accreditation, due to the fact it has failed to recognize the performances of LIV Golfers in recent years. Via Bob Harig of Sports Illustrated, the letter outlines the following:

“a resolution which protects the accuracy, credibility and integrity of the OWGR rankings no longer exists…Unfortunately, the OWGR has shown little willingness to productively work with us”

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Peter Dawson, former CEO of the R&A, holds the position of Chairman of the Board for the OWGR, and when pressed about LIV’s inclusion in the rankings, stated that:

“we are not at war with them. This decision not to make them eligible is not political. LIV Players are self-evidently good enough to be ranked. They’re just not playing in a format where they can be ranked equitably with the other 24 Tours and thousand of players to compete on them”.

Now, the view from LIV Golf has been that the OWGR does not have an exact set of specific qualifications that every prospective Tour must meet. I think it is fair to say that many of the LIV golfers would be in the top 100 in the world, and to see them slide down the rankings despite playing good golf does not make much sense.

On the flip side, it is kind of like making up your own sport, then being sad that it’s not in the Olympics. The criteria is there, and LIV doesn’t meet it. It was generally accepted that this faulty criteria included the 54 hole format and lack of a 36 hole cut.

When you look into it, one can still qualify for OWGR points despite these shortcomings, and the main issue was actually the lack of turnover, a recurring field week on week under 75 players and no sign of promotion or relegation at the end of a season, because there is nowhere to go. They aren’t playing for anything at the top end or the bottom end of the leaderboard, other than to stay on the Tour.

LIV are within their rights to suggest that the OWGR is becoming a PGA Tour ranking, and will soon include no LIV Golfers despite strong performances in majors in the last five years or so.

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In the letter to his players, Greg Norman explained that the rankings were “structured to penalize anyone not playing regularly on an “Eligible Tour”…the OWGR system is designed such that it would be functionally impossible for you to regain positions close to the summit of the ranking, where so many of you belong”.

This isn’t strictly true because obviously, good performances on LIV and in the majors could eventually allow golfers to return to where they were. It is an issue if guys like Niemann, DJ and Rahm continually slip down the rankings, especially if they do well in the majors. Even if LIV began to qualify for half the points of regular PGA Tour events, it would still reflect some partially genuine world ranking.

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The conspiracy theorist within me thinks that the next step is LIV pairs up with Data Golf to form their own rankings within the LIV Tour, and declare it a “New World Order”.