LIV Golf players slam ‘mockery' of world rankings system

Straits Times

4 days ago

England's Lee Westwood reacts after finishing on the 18th green on the final day of the British Open.
LONDON – Lee Westwood's tie for 34th at the British Open vaulted him 3,759 spots in the Official World Golf Ranking. Now at No. 930, he is back ahead of his son, Sam, a mini-tour player who currently sits 2,759th.
That served as Exhibit 1 for the Englishman's rant against the world rankings system.
'I think that just proves that without world ranking points it makes a bit of a mockery of the system,' Westwood said on Wednesday ahead of this week's LIV Golf UK event.
The comments came after the league re-applied for submission to the OWGR last month. That submission currently is under review.
LIV originally applied for accreditation in July of 2022, shortly after the league launched, but was denied. LIV golfers currently can only earn ranking points by competing in Majors and international tour events.
With limited ability to amass points via the DP World Tour and other tours, LIV players like Westwood have continued to plummet down the OWGR. Dustin Johnson, who spent 135 weeks at No. 1, dropped as low as 907th before a T23 last week vaulted him back up to 571st.
The current Top 50 includes only two LIV players – No. 16 Bryson DeChambeau and No. 21 Tyrrell Hatton.
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Westwood applauds LIV's recent second submission and believes that without earning OWGR, the four Majors will have to alter their processes to include more LIV players in the future.
'I think it relates back to wanting the best players in the Major championships, not wanting this conversation where there's a few people missing out because we don't get world ranking points on LIV,' he said.
'We either start to get world ranking points on LIV or the Major championships have to revise their qualification system... and you want it all to be based off the same system.'
That he was able to jump more than 3,000 spots based off a tie for 34th at one event speaks to the core issues Westwood has with the system. Jon Rahm's issues with the OWGR pre-date joining LIV in December 2023, and supports a system that focuses more on key playing metrics.
'I already thought it was flawed before I ever came, and I was vocal about it,' he said.
'So I think the last few years, even the world ranking itself and both Data Golf do a strokes gained ranking, and I think that much more reflects who truly is playing the best because the actual points being a two- year ranking, you can have a poor week or a poor three weeks, and that will hold you down for two whole years.
'It's crazy how you can actually finesse a little bit of the system by playing certain weeks and not playing certain weeks and things like that. It's always going to be somewhat accurate but not the most, and I think strokes gained usually is going to be the better representation of how truly everybody is playing.'
For now, LIV players will continue to tumble down the OWGR. Sure, they can accumulate some points on other tours outside of LIV events, but the next Major isn't until the Masters next April. And unless they are included in the OWGR, it will become increasingly difficult for LIV players to qualify for the four biggest tournaments each year.
LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil said earlier this month that he's hopefully the approval process can progress ahead of the 2026 Major season.
'I think there's a lot of guys out here that you certainly want to be playing in Majors. If there's a better pathway for that for us, then that's brilliant,' Hatton said.
'There's a lot of guys out here, their current world ranking doesn't really reflect the type of golfer that they are, and I think everyone would like to think everyone sitting here would agree with that statement.
'I guess the sooner the world rankings can become a little bit more realistic again, the better it is for golf.' REUTERS