Talor Gooch shares his thoughts on the OWGR’s decision and emphasizes the importance of ranking best players in the world
LIV golfers are highly disappointed with their series losing its bid to earn OWGR points. Recently, the OWGR rejected the Saudi circuit application in which they asked to grant the LIV players points in the world ranking.
Taylor Gooch said that the decision reflects the irrelevancy of the OWGR. He mentioned that the OWRG's work is to rank golfers around the world. He said (via LIV Golf):
"It’s not surprising given everything that’s gone on the last 1-1/2 years. Nonetheless, it further confirms the irrelevancy of the OWGR. Their job is to rank players all around the world; it’s not players’ and tours’ jobs to conform to what they decide is worth getting ranked, or how you’re able to get ranked."
"It’s their job to figure out who the best players in the world are – which they aren’t able to do. I don’t think they should be the keyholders for that," he added.
Talor Gooch's current OWGR rank is 187th. He has previously played at the Masters, PGA Championship, and The Open Championship as he was in the top 100 in the world rankings.
In the three majors he played this year, Gooch finished T34 at the Masters but failed to cut the other two events. However, Gooch will miss all the majors next year as he stands outside the top 100 in the OWGR.
Gooch was slated to compete at the DP World Tour's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship but he withdrew from the tournament ahead of the start.
LIV golfers on OWGR's decision
Besides Talor Gooch, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, and Cameron Smith also expressed their disappointment with the OWGR's decision.
Reed said that OWGR reflects the actual ranking of the top-ranked golfers in the world and LIV players should be included in the list. He said (via LIV Golf):
“Obviously it’s disappointing. Until the actual world ranking reflects the actual top players in the world, then to me it’s just kind of a broken system. … Just because we play on a different tour, it shouldn’t matter.”
Dustin Johnson said that it's hard to use world ranking if LIV golfers are not included in the OWGR. He said (via LIV Golf):
"I feel like you can’t really use the world ranking system anymore. That’s my take on it. Hard to use the world ranking system if you’re excluding 48 guys that are good players. The rankings are skewed. It doesn’t really affect me as it does some of the other guys. I want the points for the other guys.”
Cameron Smith's claim that some of the world's greatest golfers aren't represented in the top 100 is completely absurd. He stated:
“I think it (OWGR) is almost obsolete now. We’ve got some guys out here who are playing some of the best golf in the world and they’re outside the top 100, 200 in the world. It’s pretty ridiculous."
LIV golfers will have their final single tournament this week and then will head for the final Team event in Miami.