World Ranking Officials Will Take Time to Review LIV Golf’s Shrewd Idea for Points
The surprise revelation that the LIV Golf League will partner with an obscure developmental tour in the Middle East in order to better position itself to receive world ranking points was born out of shrewd thinking and months of conversations.
Whether it ultimately pays off will remain undecided as the Official World Golf Ranking said Thursday it needs time to review the situation; LIV Golf officials had hoped for a quick decision before the sixth LIV Golf Invitational Series event at Stonehill, a new course on the outskirts of Bangkok that will see 48 players compete in a 54-hole shotgun tournament that runs through Sunday.
The LIV Golf system alone has been enough to give pause to the idea that players competing in LIV Golf events should receive points administered by the OWGR.
The format is not traditional, the field sizes are small, there is no 36-hole cut. And critics also point out that there is no direct access via weekly qualifying to LIV Golf events.
But LIV Golf and its players maintain that the current OWGR is not relevant if players such as British Open champion Cam Smith, 2020 Masters champion Dustin Johnson, 2020 U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and others are not earning points.
Hence the push and the crafty move to partner with the MENA Tour, based in Dubai, which aside from a few events this spring, has not been operating for the past two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With no set schedule for 2022–23, the MENA Tour was dormant until LIV Golf stepped in, pledging to underwrite a schedule that will consist of a minimum of 10 events with as many as 16.
In exchange, the MENA Tour agreed to take on all LIV Golf events as part of its schedule, setting up a system that will have an Order of Merit winner for the overall tour as well as a separate winning category for those who do not compete in LIV events.
By becoming part of an existing tour that is already getting world ranking points, LIV Golf believes it has met the criteria for inclusion.
The OWGR statement Thursday said there was “insufficient” time to review for this week’s event and next week’s in Saudi Arabia. LIV Golf would then hope to be approved by the start of the 2023 season.
“They got very creative,” said Graeme McDowell, the 2010 U.S. Open champion from Northern Ireland who joined LIV Golf before the first event in June.
“I think from a player standpoint, it feels great to have everyone at LIV fighting so hard for the players and their best interests,” said Phil Mickelson, the subject of considerable controversy over his defection to LIV Golf. “I think for the World Golf Rankings, this is a great way to keep its credibility, while not bringing politics into the decision-making process. I think it’s good for all parties.”
Most LIV Golf players are seeing their world ranking steadily erode as they compete in events that are not giving points—while as former PGA Tour members, they’re unable to play in events where points can be earned.
Without getting world ranking points, players such as Johnson and Mickelson likely won’t play in a world ranking event until the Masters—unless they venture overseas to play an Asian Tour event.
“I think with the quality of players we have out here, with the events we are playing, we should have them,” said Johnson, who has seen his world ranking drop from No. 3 at the start of 2022 to 23rd. “I don’t see how they don’t award us points. I think it’s supposed to be a nonbiased organization. We are playing golf, competing with some of the best golfers in the world, so yes, we should be awarded points.
“Will they do that? Hopefully. Like I said, I think we deserve them, and hopefully we’ll get them.”
To reach that goal, LIV Golf decided that integrating into an existing tour that already offers world ranking points was its fastest path. While LIV Golf executives have yet to comment on the plan, the MENA Tour released a statement Wednesday confirming the LIV Golf arrangement.
LIV Golf already has a partnership with the Asian Tour and has invested more than $300 million in starting an elevated series of events within the tour called the International Series. Those tournaments are the feeder system into LIV Golf.
The top three players on the International Series Order of Merit have spots in LIV events this year and will have access to next year’s League schedule of 14 tournaments.
But the Asian Tour already has a set of criteria for membership, and for LIV Golf to merge into another tour, it had to come up with exemption categories so its members could be part of it.
So it devised a plan to add categories for MENA Tour membership that would not preclude regular members from competing in their own 54-hole events. And as of now, the likes of Johnson and Mickelson and all LIV players are considered members of the MENA Tour.
The tour plays across the Middle East, North Africa and Asia and its top players have access to the Asian Developmental Tour as well as qualifying spots for the Asian Tour. The Asian Tour provides access to the International Series and thus a path to LIV Golf. At least that is how LIV sells the idea of an avenue to its tournaments.
The MENA Tour began in 2011 and got sanctioning by the OWGR in ’16. Its tournaments are full-field events of approximately 120 players, but purses are just $75,000. LIV Golf will cover that as well as all administrative fees in running the tour, which has more than 200 members.
The financial commitment will likely be a few million dollars, which is a blip in the overall LIV landscape of guaranteed contracts and $25 million tournament purses. But it gives LIV Golf another aspect to promote: It can tout saving a developmental tour and offering more playing opportunities.
LIV Golf also sees this as “a way out” for the OWGR, which has found itself in a political quandary with its board made up of leaders from governing bodies of the four major championships as well as PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley.
“For me it’s fairly obvious that the world rankings don’t make sense without recognizing this tour,” McDowell said. “I understand there are boxes you have to tick. I understand that the guy making those decisions from the world ranking are very conflicted in this situation. Common sense has to prevail at some point.
“Obviously LIV are extremely keen to make this happen … and exploiting somewhat of a loophole perhaps. And they are trying to fast-track this to where this needs to be and deserves to be.”