LIV Golf applies again for place in world golf rankings, which would give its players better access to majors

Boston Globe

4 days ago

The OWGR board has an annual meeting next week at the British Open.
The OWGR denied the first application in October 2023 — the first full year of the league — saying it could not fairly measure LIV Golf with two dozen other tours around the world because of what amounted to a closed shop, along with the individual competition potentially being compromised by scores counting toward a team result.
LIV now has 54 players — 13 four-man teams and two wild cards — and keeps the roster all season except for alternates used in case of injury.
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Other tours have various forms of qualifying that allow for changes in the field among a larger membership. LIV began a 'promotions' event that offered three spots at the end of 2023, but that was reduced to one spot last year. The leader of the Asian Tour's International Series also gets a spot in LIV provided he's not already a member.
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World ranking points have been seen as critical to LIV because the four majors — all of which have a seat on the OWGR board — use the ranking to help determined the field. The US Open and British Open this year added a category for top LIV performers. The Masters and PGA Championship use invitations at their discretion to get whom they consider deserving.
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LIV, which once tried to get ranking points by becoming part of the MENA Tour in Africa, formally
O'Neil in a statement thanked Immelman for his 'willingness to move the sport of golf forward for the benefit of all players and most importantly, the fans.'
'LIV Golf is committed to working together with the Official World Golf Ranking and its board to ensure the very best players are competing in the game's most prestigious events,' O'Neil said. 'We are confident our application addresses the outstanding questions that exist to support a more global, all-encompassing, and accurate ranking system.'
O'Neil said he hoped the approval process can go through before the 2026 major season.
Immelman had said the rejection letter sent to LIV in October 2023 was 'quite clear' with the position the board had at the time and any change would start with LIV applying anew.
'We appreciate the interest of LIV Golf — and all the tours — in contributing to the global landscape of men's professional golf through OWGR,' the statement said.
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