(Reuters) – Former world number one Jon Rahm said the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) system is no longer fit for purpose, a day after LIV Golf formally withdrew its application to have players receive world ranking points from its tournaments.
LIV Golf first applied for recognition from OWGR, which determines entry into golf’s four majors, in July 2022 but was rejected last October mainly because its format had only 54 holes with no cuts.
Masters champion Rahm, who was number one for 52 weeks, currently sits third despite making the switch to LIV Golf in December.
“I’m going to be honest, I didn’t know they were still trying to get World Ranking points. But the one thing I can say is I’m going to back to what I said two years ago in the DP World Tour Championship,” Rahm told reporters on Wednesday.
“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.”
Rahm highlighted Joaquin Niemann’s rise as an example of why the rankings system was out of touch after the 76th-ranked Chilean, who won the LIV Golf event in Jeddah, received invites to three majors — the Masters, the British Open and the PGA Championship.
“I’m very happy to see Joaco get invites… While we don’t have a clear path to majors through LIV yet, I think they should be taking everybody under consideration,” Rahm added.
“If anybody in this world doesn’t think Joaco (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. Obviously I don’t think the ranking is reflective of that right now to its entirety.”
Former U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, who also made the switch to LIV Golf, said: “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.
“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.”
Rahm added that it was not up to the players to come up with a solution but the governing bodies.
“Our job shouldn’t be to make the rules or impose the rules or enforce the rules. We’re here to entertain,” Rahm said.
“It’s the governing bodies’ job to be doing this and be adaptable to the changing environment.”
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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