How Many OWGR Points Would A LIV Golf Tournament Be Worth?

With LIV Golf boss Scott O'Neil hoping to secure OWGR points next season, we looked at how many points could be on offer

A LIV Golf sign
(Image credit: Getty Images)

With LIV Golf boss Scott O'Neil hoping to get Official World Golf Ranking points allocated for the 2026 season, just what will that look like?

Working out anything to do with the OWGR is a complicated business requiring a maths degree at times - but we've brought out the calculators to try and get a sense of what value a LIV Golf tournament could carry in the grand scheme of things.

The key is in the 'field rating' the OWGR places on every event that it offers points for, with this determined by the total amount of 'performance points' that every player in the line-up brings with them.

This is the reason a small event field like the Hero World Challenge can carry so many OWGR points as so many in the field are top performers throughout the year and so bring more performance points with them.

LIV Golf does alright in this area though despite players not regulars in ranking events - with Bryson DeChambeau carrying the same as Scottie Scheffler into this year's Open Championship of 23.8.

Rory McIlroy brought 14.8 with him to Royal Portrush with Jon Rahm holding 12.9 and the likes of Tyrrell Hatton, Carlos Ortiz and Joquin Niemann also among the top points holders.

Using the most recent performance points numbers from all 52 players attached to LIV Golf teams last season we can get a rough idea of where the events would stand in terms of OWGR points.

Jon Rahm with the Individual Championship trophy

(Image credit: Getty Images)

After crunching the numbers, a 52-man LIV Golf event came out with a field rating of around 122 - and using the small field metric used by the OWGR on similar small-field, no-cut events, the winner would get around 25 ranking points.

Performance points are quite volatile - Ortiz and Niemann for instance held 11 and 7.7 at The Open but dropped down to 3.6 and 3.9 later in the year, so values could change with new signings, Major performances and wildcards.

There's also a ton of other factors the OWGR may consider, but that 122 field strength rating is similar to events such as the Corales Punta Cana Championship (130) and Puerto Rico Open (117) on the PGA Tour.

With a larger share of ranking points for top finishes though, that 25 mark is around the same as for winning the Bermuda or Isco Championships.

These sort of numbers would be comparable to some DP World Tour events though such as the Italian Open and KLM Open, but again with more OWGR points for the winner - similar to at the Betfred British Masters (27.6).

What's your opinion? Should LIV Golf events get OGWR points, and if so how many? Let us know by joining the conversation below...

How many ranking points will LIV Golf get?

For reference, the better DP World Tour events can range from 150-200 in terms of field rating, with the BMW PGA Championship holding 292 but the Genesis Scottish Open containing a stellar field and whopping 404 rating.

In fact, that Scottish Open rating was higher than any other event on the PGA Tour apart from The Players Championship (462) but over in America many more events get over the 300 mark regularly. McIlroy bagged 80 points for winning The Players.

Those numbers can be boosted hugely by the likes of Scheffler and McIlroy turning up, which is something for LIV Golf to possibly consider during contract negotiations with their top performers - especially DeChambeau.

All four Major champions get 100 world ranking points each even though the field strength again varies, while Signature Events also have contrasting ratings and with the field smaller and no cut they too offer around 20% of ranking points available to the winner, so between 50-70.

Of course, these are just bare numbers based on the format used on events on the PGA and DP World Tour, and the OWGR may well tweak the formula under the special circumstances of LIV Golf.

Having players contracted to play the season, not to mention the team aspect, could all be factors but judging on the current criteria then LIV Golf initially would carry similar weighting as a mid-range DP World Tour event and one of the lesser tournaments on the PGA Tour.

Paul Higham
Contributor

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website.  Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush. 

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