LIV Golf have been dealt a sensational, last-minute blow with the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) confirming players will not receive ranking points at this week’s Bangkok series.
On Wednesday it was confirmed by the little-known Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Tour that they had agreed to a partnership with LIV Golf which would ensure its players received world rankings points — a crucial element missing from the Saudi-backed circuit.
OWGR released a statement Thursday stating that their alliance was under review, meaning no rankings points can be earned in the interim.
‘Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) received a communication from the MENA Tour on October 5th, 2022, at 13:05 BST. The communication detailed significant changes to the MENA Tour’s membership structure along with an outline of the initial series of tournaments in the 2022/23 MENA Tour season.
‘OWGR notes that the first two tournaments in this series appeared to be the same as the LIV Golf Invitational Series tournaments in Bangkok and Jeddah. The communication from the MENA Tour included a starting field data file for the Bangkok tournament, confirming that to be the case.’
LIV Golf Commissioner Greg Norman cannot currently offer his players world rankings points
Bryson DeChambeau & co. will have to wait with the LIV-MENA alliance currently under review
‘Notice of these changes given by the MENA Tour is insufficient to allow OWGR to conduct the customary necessary review ahead of the LIV Golf Invitational Bangkok and LIV Golf Invitational Jeddah (14-16 October).’
‘Only after the review is complete will a decision be made on awarding points to the MENA Tour’s new “Limited Field Tournaments”, defined by the MENA Tour in its Regulations as “any MENA Tour-approved tournament, which comprises of a player field of less than 80 players.”‘
‘Regular official MENA Tour events conducted over 54 or 72 holes with a cut after 36 holes, and its Tour Championship, typically conducted over 54 holes with no cut, remain eligible for inclusion in the OWGR.’
The lack of ranking points on offer is perhaps LIV’s biggest weakness as things stand. It influences players’ ability — or lack thereof — to stay in contention to compete in the Majors unless they were exempt from their world ranking based upon previous Majors victories.
Norman, who is also the CEO of LIV Golf thought he had found an immediate tonic to the lack of ranking points on offer to those who have joined the Saudi-backed circuit from the PGA Tour
‘Insufficient notice’ was cited as one of the main factors in the current review by the OWGR
LIV Golf Bangkok begins Friday running through to Sunday just north of the Thai capital. MENA has been inactive since the start of the global pandemic. MENA confirmed the partnership on its website Wednesday, saying the agreement would ‘immediately qualify LIV Golf for OWGR points’.
‘We are taking this mutually beneficial action to support the game at the developmental level and because of the importance and fairness of LIV golfers qualifying for OWGR points,’ said Atul Khosla, the President and COO of LIV Golf.
‘We’re pleased to create pathways that give more opportunities for young players, while also giving fans rankings that include all the world’s best golfers.’
The MENA Tour is a circuit for tournaments in North Africa and Asia. Unlike LIV Golf it is currently acknowledged and accepted by the Official Golf World Rankings board.
Pending approval by OWGR, MENA will ultimately enter the LIV field as its own entity, meaning the likes of Koepka, Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau can now play for ranking points.
Australians Cameron Smith was persuaded to defect from the PGA Tour by his countryman
Dustin Johnson (L) and his colleagues are already in Thailand ahead of Friday’s Bangkok series
It also mean LIV players can compete in MENA events, but with $75,000 the regular sum of money on offer for the winner of MENA tournaments it is highly unlikely the likes of Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau — who all took over $100m as joining fees from LIV — will ever be tempted.
There are some logistical challenges to allowing LIV Golf players world rankings points. Unlike the rest of the golfing world, LIV play 54 holes as opposed to the universal 72. Similarly, there are no cut lines on the rebel tour.
One of the most vehement critics of LIV Golf in Rory McIlroy, has previously conceded they should be free to attain world ranking points.
‘I certainly would want the best players in the world ranked accordingly,’ McIlroy said recently in Scotland. ‘I think if Dustin Johnson is somewhere around 100th in the world then it’s not an accurate reflection of where he is in the game.’
Rory McIlroy has conceded LIV Golf’s players deserve ranking points if they move to 72 holes
Johnson (L) and Norman’s wife, Kirsten Norman (R) attend a welcome party upon their arrival
But McIlroy did add a caveat, alluding to and taking umbrage with the differences in rounds.
‘At the same time, you can’t make up your own rules,’ McIlroy said. ‘If they want to pivot to meet the criteria, they can… I certainly have no problem with them getting world ranking points, at all.
‘But if you don’t meet the criteria, it’s going to be hard to justify why you should have them.’
The 48 players who featured in LIV’s event in Chicago last month, including Open champion Cameron Smith and six-time major winner Phil Mickelson, wrote to OWGR chairman Peter Dawson last month requesting ranking points to be attributed to past and future events.
Harold Varner III only recently left behind rankings points, and the PGA Tour, for LIV Golf
Spaniard Sergio Garcia will be the team captain of Fireballs GC at the LIV Golf Bangkok event