LIV Golf have lost their bid to earn world championship points for their events after the OWGR rejected their application.
The Saudi-backed golf tour has been striving to attain official world golf ranking points ever since they submitted their application in July 2022, shortly after the league had commenced.
However, the OWGR turned down their application citing issues including their 54-hole, no-cut events, their format could not be fairly ranked alongside the other 24 tours and their players, and the restricted opportunities for other players to join.
Peter Dawson, the Chairman of the OWGR, communicated in a letter addressed to LIV Golf’s CEO Greg Norman and COO Gary Davidson that their organization would not fulfill the necessary criteria for official recognition as a golf tour within the OWGR system.
“Simply put, the board committee does not believe it is equitable to thousands of players who strive every day to get starts in OWGR eligible tournaments to have a tour operate in this mostly closed fashion,” Dawson wrote.
LIV Golf have since responded with a statement on OWGR’s decision saying: “OWGR’s sole objective is to rank the best players across the globe. Today’s communication makes clear that it can no longer deliver on that objective.
“Players have historically remained subject to a single world ranking to qualify for Major Championships, the biggest events, and for corporate sponsor contract value. A ranking which fails to fairly represent all participants, irrespective of where in the world they play golf, robs fans, players and all of golf’s stakeholders of the objective basis underpinning any accurate recognition of the world’s best player performances. It also robs some traditional tournaments of the best fields possible.
“Professional golf is now without a true or global scoring and ranking system. There is no benefit for fans or players from the lack of trust or clarity as long as the best player performances are not recognized.
“LIV will continue to strive to level set the market so fans, broadcasters, and sponsors have the assurance of an independent and objective ranking system and the pure enjoyment of watching the best golf in the world.”