23-07-2025
LIV Golf stars slam world ranking mockery big names weigh in on major flaw that allows players to 'finesse' the system
Ryder Cup heroes past and present have strong say on the set-up which is causing disruption to the world order
Lee Westwood says he's proof the system's a mockery as LIV Gol f heroes waded into the world-rankings debate.
The stars of the Saudi-backed series are in Staffordshire this week for the UK event at JCB Golf and County Club.
Westwood and the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm made their way straight from The Open at Royal Portrush to England with the discussions reignited at The Championship after a latest application for OWGR.
The former World No.1 performed superbly in Northern Ireland, but says the boost he got in the rankings from the showing uncovers the flaws in the current system. Westwood tie for 34th at The Open rocketed him 3,759 spots in the OWGR and he said: 'I moved back above my son in the world rankings, which is nice. I think that just proves that without world ranking points it makes a bit of a mockery of the system. It's good that an application has gone back in.
'I think mainly 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. We either start to get world ranking points on LIV or the major championships have to revise their qualification system, which, some of them seem to want to do, but some seem reluctant to do and they'd have to have a separate qualification system for LIV players, which I don't think anybody particularly wants. You want it all to be based off the same system.
'It has to be looked at carefully, I don't know if they're going to back-date it or what, but we're all starting from a low position. I've only got one tournament counting on the world rankings I think and finishing mid 30s last week moved me up like 3,000 spots, which shows that there's something wrong with the system as it stands.'
Hatton had his say as he added: '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. 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.'
Hatton's LIV team-mate Jon Rahm continued: 'I'm going to start off this by saying that I have my disagreements with the world ranking system before I ever joined LIV. I already thought it was flawed before I ever came, and I was vocal about it.
'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.
'In Data Golf and world ranking, they both have their own version. I think they're somewhat similar for the most part, give and take certain players. But if you're top 10 in one, you're most likely going to be top 10 in the other one. The order might change a little bit, but I think it's a fair representation of where everybody is at.'
LIV CEO SCott O'Neil gave an update on the application, but said: 'It's still a bit premature. We have filed an application and I'm in pretty good contact with [OWGR Board chairman] Trevor Immelman. We have a call later this week. He's been a good source of encouragement, push-back, debate, and we've both agreed to keep those conversations between the two of us until we take another step forward. That's what we agreed to.'
