LIV Golf Secures Official World Golf Ranking Points

Scott O'Neil poses in front of a LIV Golf board

(Image credit: Getty Images)

LIV Golf has been granted Official World Golf Ranking points on the eve of its fifth season.

The OWGR says the process was 'exhaustive and collaborative' and confirmed that points will go to the top-10 finishers in each of the league's individual tournaments for the 2026 season.

Jinichiro Kozuma takes a shot during LIV Golf Greenbrier — Jinichiro Kozuma, who finished in the Open Zone last year, was seemingly dropped from the league due to his nationality after his Iron Heads team rebranded to Korean GC

The PGA Tour, which has a seat on the OWGR board, said it respected the decision.

"We respect today's decision by the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) Governing Board and the considerable time the Board and Chairman Immelman committed to this process," the Tour said.

It has been a very long process for LIV Golf, which originally had an application in before then-CEO Greg Norman withdrew it in March 2024. New chief Scott O'Neil has clearly had it top of his to-do list and made a number of changes to satisfy the OWGR including bolstering its relegation and promotion systems and increasing the format from 54 to 72 holes.

Trevor Immelman, Chairman of OWGR, said, “This has been an incredibly complex and challenging process and one which we have devoted a huge amount of time and energy to resolving in the seven months since LIV Golf submitted their application.

"We fully recognised the need to rank the top men’s players in the world but at the same time had to find a way of doing so that was equitable to the thousands of other players competing on other tours that operate with established meritocratic pathways.

“We believe we have found a solution that achieves these twin aims and enables the best-performing players at LIV Golf events to receive OWGR points.

"I would like to acknowledge the substantial and constructive efforts made by Scott O’Neil and the team at LIV Golf. We look forward to working with them on implementing this approach with immediate effect for the 2026 LIV Golf season.”

The OWGR said it acknowledges LIV is 'planning further changes for the 2027 season' and says it will continue to evaluate the league against its eligibility standards.

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OWGR Statement on LIV Golf decision:

The Governing Board of the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) today announced its decision on the application from LIV Golf.

After conducting an exhaustive and collaborative process, and in an effort to reflect the changing landscape of the men’s professional game, the OWGR Board has made the decision to award world ranking points to LIV Golf events for the 2026 season. Ranking points will be allocated to the top-10 finishers in LIV’s individual stroke play events, which recognises there are a number of areas where LIV does not meet the eligibility standards set out by OWGR.

LIV events will be ranked based on OWGR’s standard classification of ‘Small Field Tournaments’ with a further ‘virtual cut’ applied to award points to players who finish in the top 10. Players who finish lower than 10th will not receive OWGR points and those points will not be redistributed to the players finishing 10th or higher.

LIV Golf OWGR statement:

"The stated mission of the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) is to “administer and publish a transparent, credible, and accurate ranking based on the relative performances of players participating in male Eligible Golf Tours worldwide.”

"We acknowledge this long‑overdue moment of recognition, which affirms the fundamental principle that performance on the course should matter, regardless of where the competition takes place.

"However, this outcome is unprecedented. Under these rules, a player finishing 11th in a LIV Golf event is treated the same as a player finishing 57th. Limiting points to only the top 10 finishers disproportionately harms players who consistently perform at a high level but finish just outside that threshold, as well as emerging talent working to establish themselves on the world stage—precisely the players a fair and meritocratic ranking system is designed to recognize.

"No other competitive tour or league in OWGR history has been subjected to such a restriction. We expect this is merely a first step toward a structure that fully and fairly serves the players, the fans, and the future of the sport.

"We entered this process in good faith and will continue to advocate for a ranking system that reflects performance over affiliation. The game deserves transparency. The fans deserve credibility. And the players deserve a system that treats them equally."

Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He covered the 2022 and 2025 Masters from Augusta National and was there by the 18th green to watch Rory McIlroy complete the career grand slam. He has also covered five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews.

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