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Fans are not satisfied with the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) system after Wyndham Clark jumped four spots in ranking with his last week's victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, while LIV golfer Joaquin Niemann, who also won a tournament last week, slipped down eight positions in the ranking.
Interestingly, both Clark and Niemann competed in no-cut 54-hole tournaments but on different circuits.
NUCLR Golf shared the news on the OWGR ranking of Joaquin Niemann and Wyndham Clark on its X (formerly Twitter) account with the caption:
"#OWGR update after Wyndham Clark and Joaquin Niemann won on their respective tours: 📈 Wyndham Clark — 10th to 6th 📉 Joaquin Niemann — 66th to 74th."
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Fans jumped to the comments section to slam the ranking system criteria. One user wrote:
"Broken system and golf is fractured more than ever"
Another commented that ranking doesn't matter as LIV golfers get a whopping amount of money from victories while PGA Tour players earn a chance to compete in Majors.
"Doesn’t matter. Ones rich regardless of how he plays. One gets to play majors. The system sucks but pro golf does too right now. I love golf not a tour," wrote a fan.
"OWGR has sucked and if this is a new reason to hate it even more," commented another fan.
"As it’s should be. One chose money, the other chose legacy," commented another fan.
Here are more fan reactions:
Wyndham Clark won the PGA Tour event, which was shortened to 54 holes due to foul weather that suspended the final round of the event on Sunday, February 4. He topped the leaderboard after 54 holes and was declared the winner on Sunday.
Clark was awarded 700 FedEx Cup points and 71 ranking points for his victory and he jumped from 10th position to sixth in the OWGR.
Joaquin Niemann won the 2024 LIV Golf Mayakoba event last week and $4 million in prize money. It was a no-cut 54-hole tournament. But even after the victory, Niemann slipped eight positions in the world ranking.
He was ranked 66th ahead of the LIV Golf Mayakoba event but even after winning the tournament, he settled at 74th. The decline in the ranking was because LIV golfers do not earn ranking points.
Clark was awarded the points because the tournament was shortened due to bad weather. It was a 72-hole format tournament. OWGR grants points for curtailed events if at least players have played 36 holes.
When will Joaquin Niemann and Wyndham Clark play next?
Joaquin Niemann and Wyndham Clark will both tee off this week on their respective series. Niemann will be playing at the LIV Golf Las Vegas event, while Clark is committed to playing at the WM Phoenix Open.
The PGA Tour event will take place from February 8 to 11, while the LIV Golf event is scheduled to take place from February 8 to 10.
