“You can't really use the world ranking system anymore”: Dustin Johnson on LIV Golf's ranking status
The Official World Golf Rankings, or OWGR, has denied LIV Golf's request to award its players ranking points on the world leaderboard. Needless to say, quite a few people are unhappy about it, Dustin Johnson being one of them. The rejection news comes in light of the 54-hole format implemented by the LIV Golf series instead of the traditional 72-hole format.
According to the OWGR board, the decision to not award LIV golfers points is purely a technical one, apparently ignoring the fact that the breakaway tour has been at war with the majority of the golf world. Dustin Johnson was quick to relay his disappointment at the rejection ahead of a LIV Golf event.
He was quoted as saying by Golf Magic:
"I feel like you can't really use the world ranking system any more. [It is] hard to use the world ranking system if you're excluding 48 guys that are good players. The rankings are skewed."
According to OWGR chairman Peter Dawson, the board is not at war with the series. Unfortunately all board members could not come to a common consensus on whether they should award the league points or not.
He said:
"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."
Cam Smith, Patrick Reed amongst other LIV Golf players to criticize the OWGR rejection
The news was met with overall disappointment from the entire roster of the LIV series. Needless to say, top players like Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau particularly expressed their unhappiness at the rejection of their request.
Cameron Smith was quoted as saying by the same publication:
"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."
Several others, too, did not hesitate to express their dissatisfaction. The eligibility of the OWGR points come into question, especially after the fact that many players on the LIV Series are current/past major winners.