LIV Golf's bid for world ranking points denied by OWGR board - ESPN

LIV Golf is playing only for cash, not world ranking points, after the Official World Golf Ranking board determined it could not fairly measure the 48-man league with the other 24 tours around the world.

The OWGR rejected the application from Saudi-backed LIV Golf, first submitted in July 2022 after the league already had played two of its 54-hole, no-cut events.

«We are not at war with them,» Peter Dawson, chairman of the OWGR board, said when contacted by The Associated Press. «This decision not to make them eligible is not political. It is entirely technical. LIV players are self-evidently good enough to be ranked. They're just not playing in a format where they can be ranked equitably with the other 24 tours and thousands of players trying to compete on them.»

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, European tour CEO Keith Pelley and Keith Waters of the International Federation of PGA Tours previously recused themselves from the LIV Golf decision to avoid any conflict of interest.

The committee that rejected LIV's application comprised leaders from Augusta National, the PGA of America, the U.S. Golf Association and The R&A, which run the four majors. The majors use the OWGR as part of their qualifying criteria.

LIV Golf, which has two events left in its second season, has 48 players competing over 54 holes with no cut and a $20 million purse, with an additional $5 million awarded in a simultaneous team competition.

Dawson, a nonvoting member of the committee, said the OWGR could work around some of the requirements, such as a 36-hole cut and having an average field size of 75 players over the course of a season.

But the committee could not get past what amounts to a closed shop.

LIV Golf League has the same 48 players for