'I Moved Back Above My Son In The World Rankings, Which Is Nice' - Lee Westwood On Why Lack Of LIV Recognition 'Makes A Bit Of A Mockery' Of OWGR

With a new official bid going in from LIV Golf to get Official World Golf Ranking points, Lee Westwood again spoke about why not having recognition for his tour "makes a bit of a mockery" of the entire thing.

There are certain things LIV Golf needs to fix in order to fit the OWGR criteria, while that criteria itself may need tweaking in this new world of differing tours in global golf.

What's not in doubt is that the current OWGR doesn't reflect how good most LIV golfers are due to them not getting points for their regular team golf events - as illustrated by Westwood jumping over 3,000 places after The Open.

And Westwood thinks it devalues the ranking system, so wants to see it changed as quickly as possible.

Westwood played well at the Open Championship, finishing T34 in the end after challenging at one point, to give him his first bunch of OWGR points since 2023 - and making a landmark move up the standings as a result.

"Yeah, with my result last week in the Open Championship, I moved back above my son in the world rankings, which is nice," joked Westwood at LIV Golf UK - after leaping from 4689 to 930 in the OWGR and above son Sam (2759th).

"I think that just proves that without world ranking points it makes a bit of a mockery of the system. It's good that an application has gone back in."

Westwood says the system needs a reboot to ensure all the best players get into the Majors - and if OWGR won't budge then golf's big four need to extend their growing direct qualification spots from LIV.

"I think mainly it relates back to wanting the best players in the Major championships, not wanting this conversation where there's a few people missing out because we don't get world ranking points on LIV," Westwood added.

"We either start to get world ranking points on LIV or the Major championships have to revise their qualification system, which they seem - some of them seem to want to do but some seem reluctant to do, and they'd have to have a separate qualification system for LIV players, which I don't think anybody particularly wants. You want it all to be based off the same system.

"It has to be looked at carefully, and somebody has to come up with a - I don't know if they're going to back-date it or what, but we're all starting from a low position.

"I've only got one tournament counting on the world rankings I think and finishing mid 30s last week moved me up like 3,000 spots, which shows that there's something wrong with the system as it stands."

LIV Golf has made another bid for OWGR points almost two years after the initial application was turned down due to concerns over the lack of proper promotion and relegation and the team aspect of the competition.

And LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil said that while it's early days he's been encouraged with the dialogue with OWGR chairman Trevor Immelman.

"We have filed an application, and I'm in pretty good contact with Trevor Immelman. We have a call later this week," said O'Neil.

"He's been a good source of encouragement, push-back, debate, and we've both agreed to keep those conversations between the two of us until we take another step forward."