LIV Golf loses bid to earn ranking world ranking points at its events

LIV Golf is playing solely for money, not world ranking points, after the Official World Golf Ranking determined it could not fairly measure the 48-player league with the other 24 tours across the world.

The OWGR rejected Saudi-backed LIV Golf’s application first submitted in July 2022 after the league had already played two of its 54-hole events without a cut.

“We are not at war with them,” said Peter Dawson, chairman of the OWGR board of directors, when contacted by The Associated Press. “This decision to not make them eligible is not political. It is entirely technical. The LIV players are obviously good enough to be ranked. They are simply not playing in a format where they can be ranked fairly with the 24 other circuits and thousands of players try to compete with them.”

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, European Tour CEO Keith Pelley and Keith Waters of the International Federation of PGA Tours previously recused themselves from LIV Golf’s decision to avoid a conflict of interest.

The committee that rejected LIV’s application was made up of executives from Augusta National, the PGA of America, the US Golf Association and the R&A, which runs the four major tournaments. Majors use the OWGR as part of their qualification criteria.

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