LIV Golf stars flay OWGR decision, label it outdated on Jeddah event eve

The final LIV Golf League event of the regular 2023 season at Jeddah’s Royal Greens Golf and Country Club has been overshadowed by the decision of the Official World Golf Ranking Organisation not to award points to those playing the Saudi Arabia-backed league.

Speaking ahead of the closing individual event of the 2023 season at King Abdullah Economic City, former world number one Dustin Johnson said it was self-defeating decision by the OWGR board.

“I feel like you can’t really use the world ranking system anymore,” Johnson said. “That’s my take on it. Hard to use the world ranking system if you’re excluding 48 guys that are good players. The rankings are skewed. It doesn’t really affect me as it does some of the other guys. I want the points for the other guys.”

Said 2018 Masters winner Patrick Reed, “Obviously it’s disappointing. Until the actual world ranking reflects the actual top players in the world, then to me it’s just kind of a broken system. … Just because we play on a different tour, it shouldn’t matter.”

For 2022 Open winner Cameron Smith, who is also leading the race for individual LIV Golf honours that will be decided over the next three days, a step that would affect the younger members of the LIV Golf universe was nothing short of ridiculous.

“I think it (OWGR) is almost obsolete now. We’ve got some guys out here who are playing some of the best golf in the world and they’re outside the top 100, 200 in the world. It’s pretty ridiculous. 

“The up-and-coming guys for sure. Talor’s had probably his best career year. To see him probably not going to be in the majors next year is pretty poor. That’s the biggest thing – finding a resolution for those majors. If they do it, great. If they don’t – I wouldn’t be surprised. It’s a pretty sour place to be in at the moment.”

Having narrowly missed out on a Ryder Cup berth thanks to the exact sort of thinking that led to the OWGR impasse, Crushers captain and top-three contender Bryson DeChambeau noted wryly, “It's just been par for the course, unfortunately, and I think at this point in time now that they're not allowing it, we would love to find another way to be integrated into the major championship system since I think we have some of the best players in the world. 

“Top 12 on the list, the money list at the end of the year or the points list at the end of the year would be, I think, obvious for the major championships to host the best players in the world at those four events each year."

Meanwhile, it has come down to Smith, Talor Gooch and DeChambeau for individual honours for the 2023 season that will be decided over the weekend. The Australian is followed in the season-long standings by Gooch and the rejuvenated DeChambeau, winner of the last two LIV Golf events.

A healthy $25 million is the total prize cheque on offer at the par-70 Royal Greens course with $20 million to be divided up in the individual event and $5 million inked in for the team competition.

Smith leads the way on 170 points while Gooch is just eight points behind on the back of his three titles in a row mid-season while DeChambeau is the late comer on the scene with consecutive wins at Greenbrier and Chicago, and his 146-point tally makes the Crushers captain a long-shot for season’s honours. 

Fellow-Crusher Anirban Lahiri missed out on the top prize at Chicago, finishing behind DeChambeau and the Indian star will be focussed on the business of pushing his team towards top honours.

For the season-wrapping team championship in Miami next week, defending champions the 4Aces led by Dustin Johnson have already sealed a first-round bye with 188 points. Second-placed Crushers (178 points), no. 3 Torque (171), fourth-ranked Stinger GC and fifth-placed RangeGoats GC will be in the race for the remaining three byes that will see them seeded directly inro the second round at Miami.

Final standings for the 48 strong field will also be confirmed at Jeddah with those in the Lock Zone (top 24), and Open Zone (25th-44th) safe for the 2024 season, and those in the Drop Zone (45th and below) vulnerable to demotion. Open Zone players could also be facing a swap situation, or even a release by their respective teams. 

Ahead of LIV Golf Jeddah, Jason Kokrak is 24th in the standings and leads Matthew Wolff by only two points, while those in the Drop Zone could go into a playoff with upcoming stars to retain status on the LIV Golf League tour for 2024.