The OWGR Has Never Seen a League Like LIV Golf, and Is Taking Its Time on a Decision
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Although nothing appears imminent in regards to the Official World Golf Ranking approving LIV Golf’s application, the issue continues to see plenty of arguments on both sides.
Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau were pointed in their remarks about the OWGR during the recent LIV event in Singapore, saying the rankings will be obsolete without LIV players part of it. Mickelson has also been active lately on social media, taking the USGA to task for its clarification of an exemption that impacts Talor Gooch and making his case for OWGR points.
Last week, USGA CEO Mike Whan told Sports Illustrated’s Alex Miceli that "we’re not just rushing in to figure this out, because it’s different."
In his role as CEO, Whan is also on the seven-member board of the OWGR, which includes representatives from all four major championships as well as the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley and the DP World Tour’s Keith Waters have recused themselves from the OWGR discussion as it relates to LIV.
Whan has been the rare voice to speak publicly on the matter.
"There are some things about LIV that you could probably address mathematically," Whan said. "And there’s a couple of things at LIV that are a little bit more challenging to just slide a player in and make sure that you’re being fair to all the other players, and all of the tours around the world."
There is no question that the process is uneasy and unique. The OWGR has never had to deal with something like it previously. As the system is set up, it was meant to accredit various tours around the world, none of which were looking to pluck top talent away to form their rival league.
LIV’s argument is that the OWGR is not accurately reflecting the best golfers in the world if LIV players are not getting points. The best example is Dustin Johnson, who nobody believes should be considered the 78th-ranked player in the world. (He's 38th in the SIWGR.) But he’s slid that far as he’s not been getting points for competing in LIV tournaments.
Officials from LIV Golf have not commented on the OWGR bid. They have said previously that their communication with the OWGR has been infrequent but that they’ve received feedback, including in January and again recently.
Among the concerns the OWGR has raised with LIV have been issues that have been well-documented: the lack of a 36-hole cut, an entire tour of 54 holes and pathways to playing.
That latter seems to be a big one. LIV is a locked 48-player field. It will have a promotions event this fall that will provide three new spots as well as one from the International Series. The four-player turnover—and lack of any kind of frequent qualifying per event—appears to be insufficient to appease the OWGR. LIV’s retort: what is sufficient?
Recently, LIV Golf was questioned about its team format, which seems to be a new concern. It undoubtedly stems from what occurred at the event in Orlando where Sebastian Munoz admitted afterward that his long birdie putt to tie Brooks Koepka on the final green was played with caution to protect his team’s score—which he did not want to jeopardize.
Golfers all the time play shots to protect rather than risk damage by going for something more. But doing so on behalf of a teammate was obviously going to cause concern. LIV has player bylaws which require them to give maximum effort. Still, that Munoz admission likely did not help.
LIV Golf has suggested it will make reasonable changes based on OWGR feedback if it will result in accreditation. The organization is often asked why it doesn’t just change to conform now, which elicits an easy answer: there are no guarantees anyway. LIV is not keen on changing its setup only to find out it doesn’t matter.
So the wait continues with questions still to be answered and no indication if it will matter.