Why has OWGR denied LIV Golf’s request for Official Golf World Ranking points? Full story explored

One of LIV Golf's main struggles in its quest for international positioning is to have its tournaments and players considered for world rankings. This Tuesday, the Official World Golf Record (OWGR) announced its decision that this will not happen for the time being.

The decision was communicated in a letter from the OWGR Board of Directors to LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman and Chief Operating Officer Gary Davidson. Further details of the decision were provided to Global Golf Post by Peter Dawson, president of the OWGR.

There are several reasons for the refusal to allow LIV Golf tournaments to award OWGR points. The main one, according to Dawson, is the ranking and exclusion system used by the circuit.

The players currently playing in LIV Golf did not compete to get there, they were recruited. Only four players will make it there in 2024 after qualifying on developmental circuits. However, the LIV Golf rules protect certain players (team captains) who will not be demoted regardless of their performance.

According to the OWGR criteria, this format is not in line with the level of other circuits. This was explained by Peter Dawson for Global Golf Post:

"The main [problem] is qualification and relegation criteria that apply. With contracts and team captains, there are many ways to stay on the LIV tour even if you are not playing well. If LIV could find a way to come up with a more open competition style and relegation, we would certainly consider that. There should be many more vacancies than perhaps there are. I don’t think it’s fair to the other 24 eligible tours and the thousands of players trying to get a start each week."

What other arguments are there to exclude LIV Golf from the OWGR?

In addition to the ranking and relegation system, the OWGR cites other characteristics of LIV Golf that contradict the awarding of world ranking points.

These are essentially the characteristics of the tournaments themselves (54 holes, no cuts, 48 players). These playing conditions, according to the OWGR, limit the competitiveness of LIV against the other eligible circuits.

LIV Golf tournament (Image via Getty).

However, Peter Dawson clarified that these difficulties could be solved mathematically (i.e. by awarding fewer points). This is not the case with the aforementioned ranking and relegation system, nor with the simultaneous individual and team competitions.

The OWGR has different point systems for individual and team tournaments. For this reason, tournaments where both modes are played simultaneously (such as LIV events) have no way of being scored.

Despite all of this, Dawson made it clear that this was a technical decision and had nothing to do with the players who belong to LIV circuit. He said:

“This decision not to make them [the players] eligible is not political. It is entirely technical. LIV players are self-evidently good enough to be ranked. They’re just not playing in a format where they can be ranked equitably.”

Dawson even admitted the fact that players such as Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau do not receive OWGR points for their performances at LIV events, and this affects the world rankings. In this regard, he stated that more work needs to be done to resolve this issue.