'It Is Not Our Job' - LIV Golfer Phil Mickelson Slams World Rankings

Phil Mickelson has reopened the debate over to whether LIV Golf should be able to award its players Official World Golf Ranking points in a Twitter disagreement with former PGA Tour player Colt Knost.

Two of the stumbling blocks apparently preventing LIV Golf being awarded eligibility are its 54-hole format and 48-man fields. Knost, who hosts Golf's Subpar podcast, joined a debate on the platform about the issue by asking: “Serious question. Y’all are so upset about the OWGR, if you knew the criteria when you’re starting a tour why wouldn’t you just meet it?”

However, Mickelson was not prepared to accept that as a good enough reason to deny the circuit eligibility. He responded: “Colt. It is not our job. It is the owgr’s job to rank ALL the players in the world. Maybe they can do THEIR job and figure it out like they do for multiple tours with hundreds of players not even close to as good. But that would hurt the PGA’s revenue from CBS so the leaders won’t.” 

That was far from the end of the discussion, with Knost then asking Mickelson why the eligibility hadn’t been at the top of the agenda from the outset. He wrote: “Respectfully, why did you never lobby for WR points from the start? Why did you not argue for points when you played on pga tour champions?”

Mickelson once again responded, suggesting other factors were at play. He wrote: “Respectfully, I don’t need OWGR points nor do I care about them for myself. I’m in 3 majors for the next 13+ years and all four majors through 2025. It’s about doing what’s right and calling out the collusion that’s taking place behind closed doors to help JM get all his tv money.”

Knost wasn’t done, and then wrote: “Yes, you are! But you said it’s their job to rank ALL players in the world. Just curious why you felt like LIV is more deserving than another tour? If you knew going in you were not going to get points why would y’all have addressed it before the tour started?”

Mickelson responded: “It was addressed and it was made clear the heads of owgr would do everything in their power to shut LIV down by any and all means. Curious why you think LIV is the ONLY tour NOT worthy of points despite so many great players? Because it’s a threat is not a valid reason.”

Still the debate continued, with Knost then suggesting it would be hard to evaluate the number of points each tournament should offer. He wrote: “There are some great players and I think one day it will get points. But how many? Should LIV Singapore get the same as Wells Fargo? Yes there are some great players. No doubt. But there are also some who couldn’t make it on the pga tour and that’s why they jumped to LIV.”

Again, though, Mickelson was not prepared to accept it warranted denying LIV the eligibilty. He replied: “Same questions can be asked of all tours. You figure it out and continue tweaking as they have been doing for decades. To get ZERO points? It’s obvious to me as to why. It should be to you too. Sadly, It’s the protective mechanism CBS and others used in its current contract.”

Knost then invited Lefty onto his podcast to discuss the matter further, but, despite several tries, the 52-year-old didn’t take him up on the offer.

LIV Golf’s inability to offer world ranking points has been a sticking point for months and means that its players are generally slipping down the rankings. That means some of its players are already missing out on Majors they would likely otherwise have qualified for, a situation that’s almost certain to become more acute the longer the problem is unresolved.

It's not the first time Mickelson has criticised the world rankings in recent days. Before LIV Golf Singapore, he claimed they were 'no longer a credible way' of selecting Major fields.