The 3 Big Changes LIV Golf Has To Make To Gain OWGR Points

Although Greg Norman said LIV Golf could live without Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points, new CEO Scott O'Neil has other ideas after submitting another official bid for recognition.

LIV Golf abandoned plans to secure world ranking points in March 2024, but with O'Neil replacing Norman there was always likely to be a change in thinking.

Reports circulated that O'Neil was back in talks with the OWGR earlier this year, and although OWGR chairman Trevor Immelman played down those initial reports, an official application has now been received.

The OWGR revealed LIV Golf has made another application and that "the review process has commenced" - but will the outcome be different this time?

As there's not been too many changes to address the reasons given as part of the original October 2023 rejection letter - namely that the league is a relative closed shop.

It has been speculated that LIV Golf could make a big change by allowing even team captains to be relegated and forced to enter qualifying to get their places back, but whether that's a promise made in the official application remains to be seen.

But would that be enough? And what other changes would LIV Golf have to make to achieve OWGR ranking points?

A lot has been made of the format, but former OWGR chairman Peter Dawson did say after the initial application that those sort of things could be worked out.

“Some of the format issues – 54 holes, no cut, 48 players – is capable of being dealt with mathematically in the system," Dawson said, so what are the bigger issues that need addressing?

Captains involved in genuine relegation

Both Bubba Watson and Branden Grace ended last season in the LIV Golf relegation zone, yet retained their places for "business reasons".

As a captain, Watson has been immune from relegation, but surely that would have to change for LIV Golf to get OWGR points?

It's clear the current world rankings don't reflect exactly how good LIV's best players are, but just simply bemoaning that fact and screaming for points without making any concessions won't change anything.

And I've sympathy with the OWGR here, as for other tours around the world players have to continually play well, build up a ranking to get into the big events and keep that level up to retain their positions.

How can that be compared to a tour where players are guaranteed places regardless of their sporting merit? Where playing badly has no consequence because of being a captain or leader of a business? That's surely not fair.

So ending that captaincy immunity and deciding relegation on a purely sporting basis looks like a must-have for OWGR points.

More promotion places available

It builds in to the first point, but as well as captains being able to get relegated, there needs to be more actual relegation spots and therefore more promotion places up for grabs.

There were just two spots open last season - one for the Asian Tour's International Series winner and one via the LIV Golf Promotions event - and that just builds into the 'closed shop' situation.

Having players in the drop zone all having to go through qualifiers, and then perhaps handing out 10 spots via the LIV Golf Promotions events adds a much better meritocracy element that would suit OWGR more.

It would also make that qualifier a much bigger and better event as a consequence as well.

More separation between team & individual events

The other big area of concern for the OWGR in the initial rejection letter was the team element of LIV Golf having an impact on individual performances.

Former OWGR chairman Peter Dawson said he thought having the two competitions running alongside each other muddied the waters when it came to judging performances.

The fear is having a team competition also running makes players make different decisions and play in a different manner for the sake of team play than they would individually.

You could argue that this year's new format of all four players having their scores count for all three rounds merely promotes solid, attacking play throughout the entire tournament.

But nevertheless, when trying to judge individual performances for points, the OWGR is very wary, so LIV Golf would presumably have to figure out some way of negating this issue.