The LIV Golf Invitational Series is attracting an increasingly impressive roster of players as its inaugural season progresses, with the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Henrik Stenson joining high-profile players including Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, who have been involved since the first tournament at London's Centurion Club.
Despite that, though, there is still the question of whether the Series will be eligible for Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points. At the present time, the Series doesn't offer players OWGR. That could be changing soon, though, with an examination of LIV's world ranking application beginning at the 150th Open in July.
That news followed Greg Norman's confirmation in June that LIV was in the process of applying for OWGR points. Speaking on One Nation with Brian Kilmeade on Fox News, the LIV CEO seemed confident of its chances of success. He said: “We’re actually applying for OWGR points right now. We’re actually putting in our application probably over the weekend, if not Monday. And it’s a very compelling application. We’ve worked very, very closely with the technical committee understanding all the components of what you need to apply for it.”
Soon after, several LIV rebels also spoke of their confidence the Series will soon offer world ranking points, suggesting it's a significant issue among players teeing it up in the Series, too. That's not surprising, because OWGR points are one of the factors for eligibility to the year's four Majors.
What's been the PGA Tour and DP World Tour's response to all of this? Well, after the first tee shot was struck at Centurion, the PGA Tour revealed a statement suspending all players teeing it up in the Series and those who play in future events. Meanwhile, the DP World Tour hit players with temporary bans and fines from its tournaments. Later, the two organisations announced they were strengthening their alliance amid the LIV Golf threat.
With the application for World Ranking points in, attention now turns to those on the OWGR Governing Board, but it may not be good news for the Saudi-backed Series. Although the Series meets most requirements for ranking points, the OWGR Board is made up of the Commissioner of the PGA Tour, Jay Monahan, and the CEO of the PGA European Tour, Keith Pelley, who have already voiced their thoughts on the new Series as it bids to secure their biggest players.
Below is a full list of who makes up the OWGR Board.
- Chairman – Peter Dawson
- Augusta National Golf Club – Buzzy Johnson
- European Tour – Keith Pelley
- International Federation of PGA Tours – Keith Waters
- PGA of America – Seth Waugh
- PGA Tour – Jay Monahan
- The R&A – Martin Slumbers
- USGA – Mike Whan
Aside from the personnel involved in the decision-making process, other sticking points are thought to be the fact the tournaments are played over 54 holes rather than the more typical 72, that there is no cut, and the issue of fields being limited to 48 players. Another problem could be the current lack of a qualification process for LIV tournaments, but that is likely to be addressed in future years with the Series reportedly due to feature promotion and relegation.
As of yet, there is no clear timeline for when the LIV Golf application will be voted on, but whenever the decision is made, it is sure to be another significant development in an ongoing saga.
