"The word 'official' has to go away": LIV golfers Harold Varner III, Graeme McDowell take jibe at OWGR
The controversial LIV Golf series has dramatically changed how golf has worked all these years. It is known for experimenting with a new format where all players on the course start on different holes, also called the 'Shotgun Start.'
The Saudi-backed tour has drawn criticism from purists for changing traditional golf and mainly for the human rights violations made by Saudi Arabia. Golfers who defected to LIV Golf from the PGA Tour were barred from participating in the PGA tournaments. They cropped up another issue of the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR).
LIV Golf is at its second and last stop in Jeddah before the conclusion of the debut season, but the OWGR has not subsided. And it was brought up again at the Jeddah LIV Golf Invitational when Graeme McDowell reiterated that the rankings would be less credible if LIV Golfers weren't a part of them.
He did a press conference with fellow LIV Golf players Dustin Johnson and Harold Varner III, where he suggested that the word 'official' should go away if the OWGR doesn't care about players.
"The word ‘official’ has to go away from OWGR if they don’t take care of the players out here."
McDowell, Johnson, and Varner have won the Saudi International since its inception in 2019. The newly crowned Individual Champion of LIV Golf's regular season, Dustin Johnson, fell to the 24th rank in the OWGR after not having played in a World ranking tournament since tying for 6th at the British Open in July.
McDowell spoke about this as well.
"This guy standing in the middle of the three of us [Johnson], if his world ranking is inaccurate, then the whole system is inaccurate."
Why are LIV Golf players not being considered for OWGR?
While LIV Golf is known for the exorbitant pay cheques given to players, let alone the juicy cash prizes, that makes no difference to the world rankings.
The OWGR has a particular set of criteria, although, according to its handbook, any qualifications can be waived. The board, comprising of PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan and DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley, has sole discretion to take the call.
Some of the qualification marks include that the league needs to operate for a year. Another is to have a 36-hole cut and the other is to have a clear pathway into tournaments. LIV Golf meets none of these marks. However, it did try to fast-track its way to ranking points by partnering with the developmental MENA Tour and incorporating it into the circuit. All the players became members and LIV Golf was made a part of the MENA Tour's schedule.
The idea in itself was credible, MENA Tour has had ranking points since 2016 and has worked to incorporate LIV Golf into its membership and qualification process. However, the ranking issue wasn't going to be resolved as soon as last week's event. And the idea was immediately put under the scanner as OGWR issued a statement saying a review needed to take place first.
Dustin Johnson talked about it recently.
"We’re going to get world ranking points. Just right now it’s another way. And the longer it takes, obviously the (tougher) it becomes for us. If we wait too long all of our rankings are going to drop so much, it’s not going to matter. We are hoping they do the right thing."
While some players have major titles to fall back on, like Johnson, who has a lifetime invitation to Augusta National after his 2020 Masters victory, along with spots at the US Open till 2024, the PGA Championship, and the Open till 2025, several players have nothing fall back on.
These players risk losing their chance to play at the major championships next year if they drop out of the top 50 rankings.
Harold Varner III, currently in a vulnerable position, stated that everyone knew what they were getting into when they defected to LIV Golf and knew that it wouldn't be easy.
"I think we knew what we were getting into. I think it’s easy to sit here and say what could happen, what should happen. But obviously for me, I knew what was going to happen. Like it wasn’t going to be easy."
He added that he couldn't care less about the qualifying marks and knew and accepted what could happen to his career after taking such a professional risk.
"I think the people at LIV did an unbelievable job. I don’t know about the check marks (to receive points). Honestly, I (couldn’t) care less. I knew what could happen in my career and I accept that."
Even Graeme McDowell accepted that they knew it would be a challenging route to navigate but hoped that the matter could be resolved soon.
"The guys who sit on that board … there’s obviously a huge amount of confliction on that board. And the longer this goes on, we have a huge amount of deterioration in that current world ranking points for the guys out here. We get hurt the longer this game plays out, and it needs to get taken care of ASAP."
As of now, some LIV Golf players are competing at the ongoing tournament in Jeddah, which marks the last spot before the tour returns to the US for the Team Championships at Trump Doral in Miami.