Patrick Cantlay: World golf rankings in need of update

Eight-time PGA Tour winner Patrick Cantlay believes an overhaul of the official golf world rankings is "inevitable" as the issue continues to be a talking point.

On Tuesday it emerged LIV Golf chief executive Greg Norman had written to his players to inform them the Saudi breakaway tour would no longer be pursuing its long battle to be recognised by the OWGR.

Due to the nature of its closed-field, 54-hole events, LIV has been deemed not to meet the criteria to join the established tours.

Ranking points are significant as for many golfers they are their only way of qualifying for the majors.

"I think the world rankings has a very particular set of criteria," said Cantlay ahead of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Florida.

"I don't know if broken is the right word, but I think 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 changed.

"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."

Cantlay’s Ryder Cup team-mate Xander Schauffele admits LIV has a number of players who would currently be in the world’s top 25 were it not for the shortage of ranking points.

But the world number five is concentrating on his game as he has to remain in the top four-ranked Americans if he is to defend his Olympic gold medal in Paris later this year.

"It just seemed like it was a pretty clear thing to start sort of how it was going to look and, unfortunately, they didn’t meet the criteria, but the LIV Tour definitely has players that are in the top 10 or top 25 in the world, they’re just unranked right now," he said.

"Fortunately I’m on the other side of the fence and I just