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LIV Golf would like you to believe it’s managed to attract some of the best players on the planet, and while that may be true, it’s not necessarily reflected by the Official World Golf Rankings, which will continue to ignore the organization now that Greg Norman has admitted defeat.
The people who’ve made the leap to LIV Golf over the past couple of years had plenty to gain thanks to the money they were offered to defect from the PGA Tour. However, every single person who made that decision did so knowing there were going to be some downsides.
The most obvious is the overwhelming amount of indifference LIV Golf has been greeted with by the vast majority of golf fans.
There are certainly some people out there who refuse to engage with LIV on moral grounds due to its links with Saudi Arabia, but it seems like most people are still searching for a reason to care about a circuit that has largely failed to give them any incentive to tune in on a regular basis.
There’s also the issue that stems from LIV’s relationship with the folks behind the Official World Golf Ranking (OWRG), which is the global authority when it comes to evaluating the best players in the game.
The OWRG has declined to take LIV Golf events into consideration when doling out the points it uses to formulate its rankings after expressing concerns with the competitive nature of its 54-hole, team-based format in 2022. LIV CEO Greg Norman has repeatedly lobbied to gain recognition, but it appears he’s realized it’s not going to happen.
According to ESPN, Norman informed LIV players he had decided to abandon his efforts to sway the OWGR’s powers that be in a letter where he said, in part:
“It is now clear that the best way forward for LIV as a league and you as LIV golfers is not through the current ranking system. A resolution which protects the accuracy, credibility, and integrity of the OWGR rankings no longer exists.
We have made enormous efforts to fight for you and to ensure your accomplishments are recognized within the existing ranking system. Unfortunately, the OWGR has shown little willingness to productively work with us.”
As the outlet notes, a number of high-profile players (who can still earn points by playing in major tournaments, DP World Tour events, and other sanctioned competitions) have seen their OWGR rating plummet since joining LIV; Cam Smith was sitting at 2nd when he left the PGA Tour and is now listed at No. 50, while Dustin Johnson has gone from 16th to 266th in the span of close to two years.
Joaquin Niemann made it pretty clear he thinks LIV guys are being disrespected by the OWGR based on the jab he delivered after a recent win, but that obviously didn’t have much of an impact.