Tag: OWGR

Scottie Scheffler says if fans are upset stars aren’t playing together, ‘then look at the guys that left’

“What they’re doing is not really a concern to me.”

Scottie Scheffler is the defending champion of the Players Championship this week at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Coming off his victory last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, it’s not surprising all eyes and ears were on him for his pre-tournament press conference Tuesday.

It’s what he said that’s turning heads. Scheffler has never hinted at leaving the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf, even as he has dominated the sport and became the No. 1 player in the world. He also hasn’t bashed those who left, rather maintained his loyalty to the PGA Tour and left it at that.

Plenty of the discourse, especially among fans, for professional golf recently is a watered-down Tour product and the fact the best players in the world are playing only four times a year together at the majors. And even at that, players competing for LIV Golf may not get into those events because they aren’t earning Official World Golf Ranking points.

It was a decision players who left made, leaving an established Tour that followed the guidelines of the OWGR for one that not only didn’t follow said rules but also hasn’t changed its rules enough to try to gain points in the future.

Players: Leaderboard, tee times, hole-by-hole

The results? Fans not getting to see the best players compete week in and week out. Scheffler thinks it’s easy to place the blame.

“If the fans are upset, then look at the guys that left,” Scheffler said. “We had a Tour, we were all together, and the people that left are no longer here. At the end of the day, that’s where the splintering comes from.

“I think we’re trying to do our best to create the best product for the fans, but we can’t control whether or not guys want to leave. If guys want to go take the money and leave, then that’s their decision. I’m not going to sit here and tell guys not to take hundreds of millions of dollars. If that’s what they think is best for their life, then go do it. I’m not going to sit here and force guys to stay on our Tour.

“But at the end of the day, this is where I want to be, and we’re continuing to grow what we’re doing, and what they’re doing is not really a concern to me.”

Players: Best (and worst) merchandise | Best practice round photos

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan spoke before Scheffler on Tuesday in his State of the Tour address, and he spoke to numerous topics, including continued negotiations with the PIF and fan discourse.

Scheffler’s answer was in response to how much fan’s voices have been listened to in the previous two years of professional golf turmoil. As Scheffler states, there are millions of fans, meaning millions of perspectives.

2024 Players Championship
Scottie Scheffler of the United States walks off the 17th green during a practice round prior to THE PLAYERS Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on March 12, 2024 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

One of the changes the Tour made to get its stars playing more often together was signature events, which has worked. In the past, the Players was touted as the best field in golf. Because of numerous stars missing from the field due to their association with LIV Golf, it’s hard for that mantra to hold the same weight it has in years past.

However, Scheffler said he doesn’t dwell on those who left, and he’s encouraged by the direction of the Tour.

“It’s kind of one of the out of sight, out of mind things, and the people that want to be on this Tour are still here, and the guys that want to compete out here are still here,” Scheffler said. “So we’ve got a lot of great competition. I’m excited with the new tournament schedule getting the best players on our Tour all together as much as we can, and I think we’re in a great spot.”

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Jon Rahm takes shot at Official World Golf Ranking after LIV Golf pulled points application

Players continue to fail to address the OWGR’s main reason for not granting LIV points in the first place.

Jon Rahm didn’t know LIV Golf was still trying to earn Official World Golf Ranking points before the league withdrew its application on Tuesday, but that didn’t stop the Spaniard from once again calling out the ranking system.

In fact, the two-time major champion doubled down on his previous criticism of the OWGR ahead of this week’s LIV event in Hong Kong.

“I didn’t think it was a good system back then, and if anything, the more time that goes on, the more it proves to be wrong,” said Rahm. “If anybody in this world, for example, doesn’t think (Joaquin Niemann) deserves to be in the top 10 or doesn’t know that he’s a top player in the world, I don’t know what game you’re watching. We can tell. I think anybody who watches golf can tell who the best players in the world are, and obviously I don’t think the ranking is reflective of that right now to its entirety.”

LIV Golf CEO and Commissioner Greg Norman informed players of the decision to withdraw the points application via a letter on Tuesday. The original application was sent in July of 2022 and the OWGR initially denied points last October.

“We have made significant efforts to fight for you and ensure your accomplishments are recognized within the existing ranking system,” Norman wrote. “Unfortunately, OWGR has shown little willingness to productively work with us.”

When it denied LIV points, the OWGR claimed the league – which features a mostly-closed field of 54 players playing 54-hole, shotgun start, no-cut events – wasn’t able to be compared to the other 24 tours under its world ranking wing. Also stated to be of concern were the qualifying and relegation methods employed by LIV Golf.

“We are not at war with them,” Peter Dawson, chairman of the OWGR board, said to the AP. “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.”

LIV Golf was displeased, to say the least, with the OWGR news and released a lengthy statement condemning the ranking system by saying it had lost trust and clarity by not rewarding LIV player performances. The statement, however, failed to address the reasons given in the original AP report as to why the application for world ranking points was rejected. Bryson DeChambeau did the same on Wednesday.

He said if the OWGR wanted to right the system then LIV should’ve been granted points more than a year ago when they partnered with the developmental MENA Tour, which also features 54-hole events.

“The cut thing — there’s numerous things they brought up, and it’s like, we can solve for all that, just tell us what to do, and nothing has gone — anyway, it is what it is, and at this point we just need to figure out how to get all the governing bodies to come together and figure out what the best system is for the game of professional golf moving forward,” said DeChambeau, who failed to mention the closed shop or pathways to the league.

“I just think what’s right is in the best interest of the game, and we should focus on having the best players at the majors, and continuing to have that around the game of golf is only important to growing the game of golf and to make the game of golf continue to be as relevant as it is now and even more in the future,” said DeChambeau. “What I think about it is we need to find a collective way, all the governing bodies, everybody, come together, sit down and figure this out, because we need to do this for the fans.”

The one point we can all agree on is that the major championships are better when all the best players are competing. No player or fan would say otherwise. As LIV players drop in the OWGR and past champions lose their exemption status, the responsibility will fall on events like the Masters and PGA Championship to reward players like Joaquin Niemann, who have gone out of their way to try to qualify.

“But our job shouldn’t be to make the rules or impose the rules or enforce the rules,” Rahm added. “We’re here to entertain, and it’s the governing bodies’ job to be doing this and be adaptable to the changing environment.”

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Will Zalatoris on the Official World Golf Ranking’s viability: ‘It kind of is what it is’

“Once we get to the majors, it will be really fun to have us all back together.”

Will Zalatoris is slowly gaining his form back.

The 27-year-old made his return to the golf world in December at the Hero World Challenge after missing most of back year following back surgery. In his latest start at the Genesis Invitational, he finished T-2, and he has slowly been trending in the right direction in all four starts this year.

He has gone MC, T-34. T-13 and T-2. He heads into the Arnold Palmer Invitational with plenty of momentum to take on Bay Hill in Orlando, and the tournament means a bit more to him with his connections to The King.

“Even though I never got to meet (Arnold Palmer), the guy’s meant a lot to me personally and my career and led me to Wake Forest,” Zalatoris said. “And even though it’s been a lot of — the guy’s meant a lot to my career — I met my wife at Wake Forest. So it’s just kind of a fun week to come here and spend some time with Amy (Saunders) and the family.”

In three starts at the API, Zalatoris’ best finish is a T-10 in 2021, his debut at the event.

As far as finding his form, Zalatoris said he thinks his body is ahead of schedule, and he’s slowly seeing his speed come back.

But the most interesting thing he said Tuesday in his pre-tournament press conference was in regard to the Official World Golf Ranking. Zalatoris was asked about the competition on the PGA Tour this season since the average ranking of winners (not including Nick Dunlap) is 73.

“Yeah, the competition is obviously very stiff, there’s no question about it,” Zalatoris said. “We’ve had quite a few first-time winners on Tour this year. You’ve got some tenured guys that are contending week in, week out. The official World Golf Ranking is what it is right now.”

And quickly, a follow-up was asked after Zalatoris’ answer regarding the OWGR. How viable is the ranking system, which Tuesday made further headlines after LIV Golf withdrew its application for points.

“You know, it kind of is what it is,” Zalatoris said. “You see what Joaquin (Niemann)’s done this year, and he’s 73rd in the world. I’m not a guy who is on the policy board or involved with those rankings, but the guy’s played some really good golf. I think, you know, having to get a special exemption from Augusta, you know, it’s just, there’s some really good players, and there’s some guys that have gone around the world and played really good golf and I think that’s something that, once we get to the majors, it will be really fun to have us all back together. But, I know that that’s kind of the utopian goal for all of us right now is to have the best players in the world play week in, week out.”

In the discourse between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, plenty of conversation has revolved around world ranking points. Only four LIV players are ranked in the top 50, with three of those having won majors in the past two years. Niemann, who has won two of the first three LIV events of the year, is in two of the four majors (Masters and PGA Championship) in 2024 thanks to special exemptions and a third (Open Championship) thanks to a win on the DP World Tour.

However, Zalatoris wants the best players to play together every week again, even if he believes most of them still play for the PGA Tour.

“We’ll see what happens going forward,” Zalatoris said. “I don’t have the fix for it. I know some guys have voiced their opinions on it. I like staying out of that stuff. Right now, it’s in an interesting position, I’ll leave it at that.”

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How far have LIV Golf players fallen in the Official World Golf Ranking since they joined?

Now that LIV has given up on OWGR points, here’s how far players have fallen in the ranking since they joined.

The LIV Golf and Official World Golf Ranking saga is over. On Tuesday, LIV Golf CEO and Commissioner Greg Norman told players the league had withdrawn its application for OWGR points, ending a nearly two-year fight for accreditation.

The upstart circuit backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund initially applied for points in July of 2022 but was denied last October due to the inability to accurately compare LIV events – which features a mostly-closed field of 54 players playing 54-hole, shotgun start, no-cut events – to other tournaments on the 24 tours under the world ranking wing. Concerns about LIV’s qualifying and relegation methods were also noted in the decision.

LIV players have been plummeting in the ranking since they joined the league, putting their major championship futures in jeopardy. Here’s a look at the 56 players who have competed so far in 2024 and how their OWGR has fallen since they joined LIV Golf.

LIV Golf OWGR movement

Player OWGR before first LIV event Current OWGR Change in ranking
Cameron Smith 2 50 -48
Jon Rahm 3 3 0
Dustin Johnson 15 266 -251
Tyrrell Hatton 16 17 -1
Joaquin Niemann 19 76 -57
Brooks Koepka 19 30 -11
Louis Oosthuizen 21 103 -82
Abraham Ancer 22 173 -151
Paul Casey 31 755 -724
Bryson DeChambeau 31 182 -151
Kevin Na 34 972 -938
Talor Gooch 35 476 -441
Thomas Pieters 35 307 -272
Jason Kokrak 36 702 -666
Patrick Reed 39 105 -66
Adrian Meronk 42 51 -9
Harold Varner III 46 385 -339
Mito Pereira 50 145 -95
Cameron Tringale 55 677 -622
Sergio Garcia 57 645 -588
Dean Burmester 59 99 -40
Marc Leishman 62 418 -356
Richard Bland 67 456 -389
Matt Jones 69 424 -355
Phil Mickelson 72 147 -75
Sam Horsfield 74 710 -636
Matthew Wolff 77 782 -705
Lee Westwood 78 905 -827
Lucas Herbert 82 87 -5
Bubba Watson 86 1,612 -1,526
Scott Vincent 91 416 -325
Anirban Lahiri 92 350 -258
Ian Poulter 92 464 -372
Hudson Swafford 95 1,539 -1,444
Sebastian Munoz 98 457 -359
Carlos Ortiz 119 239 -120
Laurie Canter 119 199 -80
Brendan Steele 122 509 -387
Branden Grace 123 683 -560
Charl Schwartzel 126 344 -218
Charles Howell 169 1,180 -1,011
Pat Perez 170 1,192 -1,022
Henrik Stenson 173 278 -105
Martin Kaymer 215 3,363 -3,148
Wade Ormsby 265 582 -317
Danny Lee 267 672 -405
Kalle Samooja 313 343 -30
Peter Uihlein 327 503 -176
Graeme McDowell 374 697 -323
Kieran Vincent 412 399 13
Jinichiro Kozuma 501 540 -39
Andy Ogletree 1371 195 1,176
David Puig 1751 133 1,618
Caleb Surratt 1903 1,939 -36
Eugenio Chacarra 1,904 427 1,477
Anthony Kim N/A N/A N/A

Of the 56 players to tee it up so far this season, all but six have dropped in the ranking. Jon Rahm, who joined the league this year, has yet to move from No. 3. Anthony Kim, who made his long-awaited return to pro golf last week at LIV Golf Jeddah, isn’t listed in the ranking. Eugenio Chacarra, David Puig and Andy Ogletree have seen their ranking jump more than 1,000 places due to their performances on other tours and the fact they’ve been professionals for less than three years. Kieran Vincent has seen minimal movement in his ranking after he played his way into the league via the Asian Tour (which receives OWGR points) last season.

Martin Kaymer has struggled with injuries over the last few years and been dealt the largest drop of of 3,148 places since he joined as the 215th ranked played back in the summer of 2022.

Only four players are within the top 50: Jon Rahm (3), Tyrrell Hatton (17), Brooks Koepka (30) and Cameron Smith (50).

LIV makes its first appearance in Hong Kong this week, March 8-10, at Hong Kong Golf Club in Sheung Shui.

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LIV Golf withdraws application for Official World Golf Ranking points

LIV originally applied for points in July of 2022 and was denied points in October of 2023.

Last October, after more than a year of deliberation, the Official World Golf Ranking rejected LIV Golf’s application for world ranking points. On Tuesday, the league formally withdrew its application, which was originally sent in July of 2022.

“We have made significant efforts to fight for you and ensure your accomplishments are recognized within the existing ranking system,” LIV Golf CEO and commissioner Greg Norman wrote in a letter to players ahead of this week’s event in Hong Kong. “Unfortunately, OWGR has shown little willingness to productively work with us.”

When it denied LIV points, the OWGR claimed the league – which features a mostly-closed field of 54 players playing 54-hole, shotgun start, no-cut events – wasn’t able to be compared to the other 24 tours under its world ranking wing. Also stated to be of concern were the qualifying and relegation methods employed by LIV Golf.

“We are not at war with them,” Peter Dawson, chairman of the OWGR board, said to the AP. “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.”

Commissioner Greg Norman and LIV Golf players have questioned the world ranking system from the jump and have been critical of the board members who may have conflicting interests when it comes to the upstart circuit backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. However, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and others all reportedly recused themselves from the LIV decision to avoid any such conflict.

From the AP:

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.

The pathways to LIV Golf are few and far between, but the league did implement a promotions event last year which saw three players gain status. The leading player on the Asian Tour’s International Series Order of Merit also earns a LIV spot for the following season.

LIV makes its first appearance in Hong Kong this week, March 8-10, at Hong Kong Golf Club in Sheung Shui.

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Lynch: Greg Norman is gaslighting the gullible with laughable claim that world golf ranking is obsolete

Norman is waging a campaign against the ranking because players swallowed his guff as gospel.

The default strategy of blowhard narcissists is to declare any rules or institutions hindering their agenda to be invalid and unfair, an argument invariably mounted via a firehose of horseshit that’s nevertheless accepted by credulous conspiracy theorists. So it is with Greg Norman and the Official World Golf Ranking, which has declined to recognize Norman’s LIV Golf tournaments.

Gaslightin’ Greg says it’s “laughable” that LIV would feature just two of the world’s top 50 golfers if not for recent signings. The insinuation is obvious: the OWGR is discriminating against LIV, and the ranking is obsolete — charges dutifully repeated by his lunkhead loyalists, who probably think critical faculty refers to the frustrated high school teachers who couldn’t help them to a passing grade.

The OWGR denied LIV’s application for recognition last October, and the organization’s chairman, Peter Dawson, carefully explained the decision. Concerns included the relegation process, whereby a player who finishes 25th might lose status while one who finishes last doesn’t because he’s contractually exempt from being booted.

Another issue was LIV playing individual and team events simultaneously. Dawson singled out comments by Sebastian Munoz, who admitted he backed off a chance to win an individual title last spring so as to protect a lead in the team affair. The possibility of teammates being paired together was also raised, since those players might be incentivized to overlook untoward conduct (not that anyone at LIV has a reputation for dodgy rules infractions, right counselor Klayman?).

The OWGR signposted what steps LIV could take to be eligible for ranking points; LIV said it will not comply. Those are the basic facts. Norman, however, is relying on brazen misrepresentation. He claims the function of the OWGR is to rank the best golfers in the world. It is not. Its function is to rank the best golfers competing on tours whose competitive integrity can be vouched for. That’s a crucial caveat conveniently omitted by the flaxen-haired finger puppet.

Norman and LIV are clinging to the risible notion that golfers are entitled to ranking points on name recognition and reputation alone, as though star power renders irrelevant the competitive integrity of where they play. There are no stars competing on the Nordic Golf League and Big Easy Tour, but both are recognized by the OWGR because they observe the necessary criteria. LIV isn’t because it won’t, so Norman decries the legitimacy of the rules and even of the very ranking whose imprimatur he seeks, while insisting the majors must rewrite exemption criteria to accommodate his objectives.

2024 LIV Golf Mayakoba
Jon Rahm of Team Legion XIII, right, stands with LIV CEO Greg Norman on the first tee during the first round of the LIV Golf Mayakoba tournament at El Chamaleon Golf Course. (Photo: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports)

On Feb. 21, Augusta National Golf Club announced that invitations have been extended to three players not otherwise qualified for the Masters. One went to Joaquin Niemann, who recently won on the LIV tour then complained it wasn’t enough to exempt him into major championships (though winning the Seminole Pro-Member wouldn’t qualify a chap either). Niemann was No. 18 in the world when he signed with LIV and is now ranked 81st. The Masters was explicit about why the young Chilean was deserving of an invitation: the tournament’s desire to have representation from regions where golf is growing, and Niemann’s victory in the Australian Open, alongside several strong showings on the DP World Tour. His performances on LIV were not mentioned.

Thorbjorn Olesen also received a Masters invitation on the heels of a recent win and a handful of high finishes on the European circuit. Taken together, the message from Augusta National seems unambiguous: competing on LIV won’t prevent someone from being welcomed down Magnolia Lane in April, but competing almost exclusively on LIV while making no effort to meet the Masters’ established exemption criteria will.

The criticisms of the OWGR coming from the LIV quarter expose two realities: players who jumped despite knowing ranking points were not available are insisting on being insulated from the consequences of their decisions, and a CEO is frantically trying to blame others for his failure to deliver on false promises. Two weeks ago, Carlos Ortiz told a podcast that he was assured by LIV upon signing that he would earn world ranking points. Who do you suppose promised Ortiz something that wasn’t within his gift? Norman is waging a campaign against the ranking because players swallowed his guff as gospel and now realize they were sold a bill of goods, including by unscrupulous agents. That’s why more than 20 members of LIV’s roster are currently in Oman, searching the shallows of the Asian Tour for points..

Whatever the fate of LIV becomes down the road, its players are in a hole when it comes to accessing the championships that matter more than money, at least those dependent on world ranking for entry. And all the bluster in the world can’t disguise Greg Norman’s role in putting them there.

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LIV Golf players flock to Asian Tour event in search of world ranking points

The 2024 Masters is less than two months away, and the race for the OWGR top 50 is on.

We’re less than two months away from the first men’s major championship of the year, and the race to qualify via the Official World Golf Ranking is heating up.

One way to play into the 2024 Masters field is to secure a spot inside the top 50 of the OWGR the week before the event at Augusta National, April 11-14. PGA Tour players have seven more events to earn points, while the DP World Tour has five events on its schedule before the Masters. LIV Golf players, however, are running out of time.

This week, 21 of the 54 current players in the league led by Greg Norman and backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund have entered the Asian Tour’s first International Series event of the year in Oman. The International Series consists of 10 events – funded by LIV Golf – that offer significantly less prize money than LIV events. So why play? Under the Asian Tour wing, International Series events dish out OWGR points.

LIV Golf hasn’t been granted OWGR points despite numerous attempts (remember the MENA Tour alliance?), which has caused its players to plummet in the rankings over the last two years. Patrick Reed is 100th, Bryson DeChambeau is 169th and Dustin Johnson is 238th, to name a few.

Of the 21 LIV players in the Oman field, just three are currently inside the top 100: Lucas Herbert (80), Joaquin Niemann (81) and Dean Burmester (95).

“I think I have a different mindset for this year,” said Niemann after he won LIV’s season opener in Mexico earlier this month. “It kind of hurt me a little bit not being in the majors and I think also helped me to get motivation to kind of earn my spot back into the majors.”

Both Niemann and Burmester played their way into the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon via their Open Qualifying Series wins at the end of 2023, but a trip down Magnolia Lane may be out of reach. LIV has three events in the next seven weeks leading up to the Masters – Jeddah (March 1-3), Hong Kong (March 8-10) and Miami (April 5-7) – which makes any sort of top-50 push for the Masters not necessarily impossible, but certainly improbable.

The U.S. Open and Open Championship feature top 60 and top 50 exemptions, respectively, and while the PGA Championship doesn’t explicitly grant exemptions based on the OWGR, special exemptions are often given to players inside the top 100 to those who aren’t qualified through a set category.

Long story short, this week’s event in Oman is just the start of what will be a busy year for LIV players not already qualified for the majors.

LIV players in International Series Oman field

Player Current OWGR Ranking
Lucas Herbert 80
Joaquin Niemann 81
Dean Burmester 95
Louis Oosthuizen 137
David Puig 141
Mito Pereira 154
Abraham Ancer 165
Anirban Lahiri 309
Charl Schwartzel 329
Matt Jones 395
Eugenio Chacarra 411
Scott Vincent 413
Kieran Vincent 422
Sebastian Munoz 428
Jinichiro Kozuma 522
Peter Uihlein 629
Danny Lee 643
Branden Grace 715
Matthew Wolff 1,113
Carlos Ortiz 1,286
Hudson Swafford 1,786

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From No. 4129 to 68: Nick Dunlap makes gigantic jump in Official World Golf Ranking

So what can a PGA Tour win do for your world ranking? A lot, as it turns out.

Nick Dunlap was ranked 4,121st in the Official World Golf Ranking at the end of 2023.

He slipped to 4,129 last week before pulling off the seemingly impossible, winning the American Express as an amateur, the first am to do that in 33 years.

So what can a PGA Tour win do to your world ranking?

Dunlap, winner of a PGA Tour event as a 20-year-old college kid, rocketed to No. 68 in the latest OWGR, which was updated Sunday night.

He’s now ranked ahead of Keith Mitchell (70), Billy Horschel (71), Erik van Rooyen (84), Taylor Pendrith (94) and Sam Ryder (108), just to name a few.

It’s reportedly the biggest jump in the history of the OWGR, which debuted in 1986.

Dunlap is just the eighth amateur to win a PGA Tour event. He’s also the 12th to win as a sponsor invitation. 

The next highest-ranked amateur in the OWGR, you ask? That’d be Standard senior Michael Thorbjornsen at No. 463.

As far as the most recent World Amateur Golf Ranking, which was Jan. 17, 2024, Dunlap is No. 3 behind Gordon Sargent and Christo Lamprecht.

Biggest risers, fallers in the Golfweek/Sagarin men’s pro golf rankings in 2023

The old phrase “what a difference a year” makes certainly applies to a good number of pro golfers.

The old phrase “what a difference a year” makes certainly applies to a good number of pro golfers.

When it comes to the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings for men’s professional golf, there some good and some not so good in terms of where players ranked a year ago as compared to now.

For Will Zalatoris, he was one of the big sliders the wrong direction. Not his fault, really, as he underwent back surgery and missed a lot of action.

Meanwhile, rising star Ludvig Aberg is more like a shooting star, as he has rocketed into the top 10 of the December 2023 rankings.

Here’s a closer look at some of the biggest movers in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings from a year ago. How they work:

Jeff Sagarin’s rating system is based on a mathematical formula that uses a player’s won-lost-tied record against other players when they play on the same course on the same day, and the stroke differential between those players, then links all players to one another based on common opponents. The ratings give an indication of who is playing well over the past 52 weeks.

Also, players must have played in at least 10 events to be ranked.

Editor’s note: We’ve included the Official World Golf Ranking for the sake of comparison.

Official World Golf Ranking updates will impact PGA Tour’s signature events in 2024

One of the updates will see a greater percentage of points to top finishers in events with less than 80 players.

The Official World Golf Ranking has been a major talking point in the professional game for the last two years as LIV Golf has fought for inclusion within the system. While the league with 54-hole and no-cut events still isn’t eligible for points, the OWGR announced two updates to the system on Thursday, and one of the amendments would impact a league such as LIV (as well as the PGA Tour).

Two months after the OWGR rejected LIV Golf’s application for points, the governing board announced a change that would include a new points distribution curve for fields of 80 players or less which would award a greater percentage of points to top finishers in those events. In addition, points will no longer be distributed to players finishing in the bottom 15 percent of events that do not have a cut. When it comes to match play events, players who lose their first-round match or lose all matches in a pool format will no longer earn points.

The update will have an impact on the PGA Tour’s eight signature events in 2024, where fields will range from roughly 70-80 players. The three player-hosted invitationals (Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Memorial Tournament) will feature a 36-hole cut to the top 50 and ties and any player within 10 shots of the lead. The other five signature events – The Sentry, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, RBC Heritage, Wells Fargo Championship and Travelers Championship – will not have a cut.

In short, top finishers in all eight events will earn more points, while the bottom 12 or so players in the five no-cut events (15 percent of 80) won’t earn points.

OPINION: The ranking points row exposes what powers LIV Golf beyond Saudi cash — naked entitlement

The second update introduces a new multi-win benefit that provides a 60 percent bonus to players who win for a second time within a 52-week period, while a 70 percent bonus will be awarded to players who win three or more times.

“Based on extensive analysis following the changes implemented in August 2022, we recognized these two opportunities to further enhance the OWGR and to accurately evaluate performances of the world’s participating players on all eligible Tours,” said Official World Golf Ranking Chairman Peter Dawson via a release. “Adjustments to the Ranking are made after careful consideration, and we are confident that today’s updates will better position the OWGR for the future.”

The changes will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024.

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