LIV Golf reapplied for world ranking points in June following the league’s initial attempt to secure points which was denied in October 2023 for a variety of reasons, including the lack of a cut in LIV events and limited field sizes.
Exactly what could be different this time around remains unknown – with LIV Golf field sizes remaining roughly the same and still no cut in the league’s 54-hole events – but Jon Rahm offered some suggestions when he spoke with the media Wednesday at the LIV event in Chicago.
“At least right now, there’s a process to hopefully enter those world ranking points and at least get our foot in the door, and then once we’re allowed, we can see what changes can be made to earn as many [points] as possible, keeping the integrity of what LIV Golf is about,” Rahm said. “Examples of that would be, let’s say with whatever we’re doing currently we get 20 [world ranking] points. If you add a fourth round, you go to 25. Is that worth it, is that not worth it?
“If you add a cut, things like that. Right now with as little players as we have, I don’t see a cut working very well, and with the teams I think it would be a little odd. But if the league were to expand and let’s say you go to 15 teams [there are currently 13 teams], you have 60 players, now you can actually possibly make something work.”
Last month, Trevor Immelman, the chairman of the world ranking board, said in a statement “the OWGR board is committed to a thorough evaluation process of all applications, and LIV’s application will be reviewed in accordance with OWGR’s criteria to ensure fairness, integrity and consistency.”
The need for world ranking points has grown since LIV Golf launched in the summer of 2022 when it had a dozen players ranked inside the top 50 in the world. Now the circuit has just two players, No. 16 Bryson DeChambeau and No. 22 Tyrrell Hatton, inside the top 50 and many of its original stars – like Brooks Koepka at 294th – have plummeted in the ranking.
The world ranking is one of the main pathways for players to qualify for the major championships and LIV Golf’s lack of world ranking points have prompted some of the majors, like the PGA Championship and U.S. Open, to carve out exemptions into the biggest events for the breakaway circuit’s top players.
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