LIV Golf Hong Kong: world rankings system has proved to be wrong, Rahm says, as PGA Tour pair call for change
- World No 3 Jon Rahm says it’s obvious that 76th ranked Joaquin Niemann is among the best playing the game
- LIV Golf boss Greg Norman told players in a letter that the league was withdrawing its bid to get Official World Golf Ranking accreditation
There is not a lot the golf world agrees on at the moment, but it appears as though an increasing disregard of the Official Golf World Rankings is one of them.
Hours after LIV Golf boss Greg Norman told his players the league was withdrawing its bid to get OWGR accreditation, Xander Schauffele, and PGA Tour policy board member Patrick Cantlay, said some changes might be needed to measure talent properly.
And speaking on Wednesday ahead of this week’s LIV Golf tournament at Hong Kong Golf Club, world No 3 Jon Rahm reiterated his stance of two years ago when asked about the rankings.
“I didn’t think it was a good system back then, and if anything it’s the more time that goes on, the more it proves to be wrong,” said Rahm, who was surprised to learn LIV had still been trying to get accredited.
In a letter sent to players on Tuesday, Norman said the decision to stop seeking OWGR status had “not been taken lightly”, but after 18 months of trying it was clear “the best way forward for LIV as a league and you as LIV golfers is not through the current ranking system”.
The Australian did not hold back in his letter, saying the rankings were “structured to penalise anyone who has not played regularly on an ‘Eligible Tour’”, and adding that field ratings were biased in favour of the PGA Tour events.
Rahm is one of only four LIV players ranked inside the top 50, alongside Tyrrell Hatton (17), Brooks Koepka (30) and Cam Smith (45). Having only joined the team competition this year, Rahm and Hatton have yet to suffer the fate of the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, who has dropped to 182nd.
Their LIV colleague, Joaquin Niemann is arguably one of the best players in the world at the moment. He won the Australian Open in December, earning a spot at this year’s Open Championship in the process, and followed that up with wins in Mayakoba in February and last week in Jeddah.
But he is presently ranked 76th, and has needed invites to get into the Masters and the PGA Championships.
“[If] anybody in this world, for example, doesn’t think Joaco [Niemann] deserves to be in the top 10, or isn’t a top player in the world, I don’t know what game you’re watching,” Rahm said. “I think anybody who watches golf can tell who the best players in the world are, and obviously I don’t think the ranking is reflective of that right now.”
Schauffele, who is competing at the Arnold Palmer Invitational this week, said there was no doubt LIV had players “that are in the top 10 or top 25 in the world … they’re just unranked right now”.
Cantlay, meanwhile, had no update on merger talks between the PGA Tour and LIV’s backers, the Saudi Public Investment Fund, but was asked if the OWGR were broken because the criteria don’t include LIV players.
“I think the world rankings has a very particular set of criteria and I don’t know if broken is the right word, but I think that there has been so much uncertainty and change in the last couple years that it’s inevitable that things need to be updated or changed,” Cantlay said.
Matt Fitzpatrick, who is also playing at Bay Hill, went a step further, saying he no longer paid attention to them.
“I look at Data Golf as a better representation of how people are playing in the world,” he said. “I think the ranking side of it [golf] is a little skewed. It’s missing a lot of top players.”
Given the failure of the game’s governing bodies to find a way beyond the current impasse, Rahm was asked whether it might be time for players on all tours to force the issue.
The Spaniard said he hadn’t given the situation “that much thought”, but pointed out that it should not fall on the players to make the rules.
“We’re here to shoot low scores and give the spectators what they want to watch,” he said. “It’s the governing bodies job to be doing this and be adaptable to the changing environment.”
