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Senior PGA tour players have conceded the official world ranking system is “broken” after LIV boss Greg Norman officially abandoned his pursuit for points to be awarded to players on his breakaway tour.
Entry to major championships for LIV golfers including new convert Lucas Herbert will rest solely on special invitations and exemptions after Norman’s move.
Having been denied an official request for his 54-hole, no-cut tournaments to be included, Norman, the LIV chief executive and commissioner, said continued dialogue had failed to move the Official World Golf Rankings body and the way forward was “not through the current ranking system”.
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Among the rankings casualties are Aussie Cameron Smith who has slipped to No.50 in the world and last week declared that he “didn’t feel like the 44th best player in the world” but has resigned himself to a continued tumble down the list like so many of his LIV colleagues.
The Queenslander remains eligible for all four majors until 2027 courtesy of his British Open win in 2022, before he made the move to LIV, and he plays with seven Masters champions who have a lifetime exemption to play at Augusta.
Reigning Australian Open champion, Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, also received a special invitation to both the Masters and US PGA this year in recognition of his recent success, which has included two LIV wins.
But the battle for the likes of Herbert, who joined LIV this year, and fellow Aussies Marc Leishman and Matt Jones to make the majors will be consigned to qualifying for the British Open and US Open after Norman opted to end his fight for the Saudi-backed league.
“It’s now clear that the best way forward for LIV as a league and you as LIV golfers is not through the current ranking system,” Norman said in a letter to his players.
“A resolution which protects the accuracy, credibility and integrity of the OWGR rankings no longer exists.”
Patrick Cantlay, who sits on the PGA Tour policy board, conceded the rankings system had not adjusted to ongoing changes in the golf landscape.
“Ithink that there’s been so much uncertainty and change in the last couple years that it’s inevitable that things need to be updated or things need to be changed,” he said ahead of this week’s Bay Hill Invitational.
“I don’t know if we’ve worked through all the changes necessary compared to all the changes that have happened in the last couple years.”
Will Zalatoris said the “utopian goal” was to have all the best players at the Masters, noting Niemann shouldn’t have needed an invitation to play at Augusta.
“You see what Joaquin’s done this year, and he’s 73rd in the world,” he said.
“I’m not a guy who is on the policy board or involved with those rankings, but the guy’s played some really good golf.
“I know that that’s kind of the utopian goal for all of us right now is to have the best players in the world play week in, week out.”
LIV made adjustments to create more spots and a relegation system to help its cause, but Norman wrote “the OWGR has shown little willingness to productively work with us”.
Only four LIV golfers are in this week’s world rankings top 50, led by third-ranked Rahm, the reigning Masters champion who made the switch last December, 17th-ranked Tyrrell Hatton, who made the jump in January, five-time major winner Brooks Koepka, who is ranked 30th and won last year’s PGA Championship, and 50th-ranked Smith.
Norman said LIV players had been snubbed for so long that it would be difficult for them to be properly rated even if OWGR began assigning points now for LIV events.
“The rankings are structured to penalise anyone who has not played regularly on an ‘eligible tour’ with the field ratings disproportionately rewarding play on the PGA Tour,” Norman said.
“Even if LIV Golf events were immediately awarded points, the OWGR system is designed such that it would be functionally impossible for you to regain positions close to the summit of the ranking where so many of you belong.”
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