With LIV pulling out from consideration for the Official World Golf Rankings, Todd Lewis offers reactions from PGA Tour players on competition dynamics in pro golf. #GolfChannel #GolfToday #OWGR
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Is OWGR a valid representation of pro talent? | Golf Today | Golf Channel
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Here’s the news I was alluding to and this coming earlier today live golf has officially withdrawn their application for official World Golf Ranking points live first applied for owgr points July of 2022 they were formally denied by the owgr last October letter was sent to Live players competing in Hong Kong this
Week by Greg Norman which said in part a resolution which protects the accuracy credibility and integrity of the owgr rankings no longer exists we have made enormous efforts to fight for you and to ensure your accomplishments are recognized within the existing ranking system unfortunately the owgr has shown a little willingness to productively
Work with us having refused to recognize your performances over the last few seasons the owgr is not an official and cannot be an official ranking this decision will remove any ambiguity about its relevance the game of golf is changing it’s expanding and modernizing live golf believes that it is time for
The player rating system to do the the same and we believe that an entirely independent ranking system would best serve the league tours players fans and stakeholders with more on this news let’s welcome in Todd Lewis who is on site at Bay Hill Todd what are the guys
Saying about this at the AO Palmer Invitational well first you have to understand what the official World Golf Ranking is on the global stage it is used to measure which players get into all the major championships now let’s look at the PGA tour there had been nine
Tournaments on the PGA tour so far this season I’m not going to count Nick dunlap’s win because he was an amateur ranked at the time outside the top 4,000 in the official World Golf Ranking but of the other eight winners on the PGA tour the average world ranking
73 only one top 10 player has won on the PGA tour this season and that is Windam Clark at Pebble Beach and that was a 54 hole rain short event I actually caught up with a couple of important players today and I asked them what does that
World ranking of the winners say about the competition on the PGA tour the competition is obviously very stiff I mean there’s no question about it we’ve had a quite a few firsttime winners on tour this year you’ve got some 10e guys that are contending week in week out um you know the official
World Golf Ranking is what it is right now um but I also think that the competition that we have is is pretty stiff I mean you know it’s really good to see guys like Nick especially come up and it just shows you the the golf climate that
We’re in with kids in college coming up and playing that great um but you know I I think that when you look at over the last few years and seeing the firsttime winners and playing as well as they have I think that’s something that I’m more excited about because on any given week
You can see someone just pop off a win I I want to follow up on what you um hinted at in regards to the world golf rankings mm how viable is that measurement you know it kind of is what it is I mean you see what wen’s done
This year and he’s 73rd in the world um I’m not a guy who’s on the policy board or involved with those rankings but the guys played some really good golf and I think you know having to get a special exemp from Augusta um you know it’s just there’s some really good
Players and there’s some guys that have gone around the world and played really good golf and um I think that’s something that once we get to the major Majors will be really fun to have us all back together um but I know that that’s kind of the utopian goal for all of us
Right now is to have the best players in the world play week in week out and I mean I love this week in general because we’ve got the best players on the PJ tour and we’ve got guys that obviously really care about it but I also think you
Know we’ll see what happens going forward I don’t have a fix for it I know some guys have voiced their opinions on it I like staying out of that stuff but you know it’s um right now it’s it’s in a it’s in an interesting position I’ll
Leave it at that there’s a lot of uh strength and depth on this tour um you know this is absolutely no disrespect to the winners cuz they played better than me this year but I don’t think the world rankings are a true representation of the golf game
At the minute um but I don’t really look at them more pay attention to them anymore I just don’t think they’re um I don’t think they’re right um so I look at uh data golf as a better representation of of how people are playing in the world in my opinion but
Um yeah I think it’s it is partly a sign that you know there is there’s plenty of depth on here and which we we’ve known that for years anyway on the PG to there’s always been a lot of strength in depth but um I certainly think nowadays
The the the ranking side of it is a little bit a little bit skewed what’s off about it well I mean it’s missing a lot of the top players for one um I had a great conversation actually with Billy schroer from from thegr and um he he explained a lot lot
To me which made a lot of sense about the world ranking points why Liv doesn’t have them yet um which made a lot of sense to me and um I think even though is given what he explained to me was the right decision I don’t
Think it’s right to to not you know not have these players have have in involved in the world rankings I mean what’s Dustin Johnson in the world I don’t even know like it’s you know Brooks kepka um I just think that’s the only issue at the minute in my opinion with the with
The world gol frankings I think data golf like I say is is a better representation of of where the where the game is and you heard Matt talk about data golf that is a website that has a lot of statistical information when it comes to professional golf including its
Own world ranking system that includes live golfers you talk to a large majority of players out here and I would say that there’s a pretty good volume of those players that feel like the official World Golf Ranking is not a true representation of the talent on the professional stage
The question is how do you fix that I mean Liv go plays only 54 holes compared to the players here that play 72 hole events on the PGA tour it’s pretty much a closed shop on the Liv tour where there’s a lot of turnover in tournaments
Here on the PGA tour so that indeed is the challenge in regards to the official world golf rankings guys thank you Todd and that’s part of why they’ve been at a stalemate seemingly for two years your thoughts on how this has unfolded where we’re at this point that Liv is
Surrendered in a sense saying we’re not getting world ranking points we’re not even going to keep the dialogue going with the owgr going forward yeah there’s so much to unpack here I think first of all I think it’s a little bit disingenuous for Greg Norman to say that
Quote enormous strides were made by trying to appease Liv golf with the official World Golf Ranking the wgr’s biggest beef with Liv golf was the fact that it was a closed shop and all Liv is done has had this promotions event for three players and they also added a
Basically a handpick team John ROMs team to fill out its roster it does leave two pretty weighty questions that I don’t think we have enough time to actually answer today one is what does it mean for player access to majors and two what does this mean going forward for a livs
Format as it relates to the players I I do think it’s interesting because now it provides some context this decision about the the war path that Bryce nambo and Taylor G and walk Neiman have been on over the past couple months kind of discrediting the owgr essentially if you
Say it enough times eventually just becomes kind of accepted and there’s kind of this revolt against the owgr the biggest issue as it relates to the world rankings though is that this issue has not really reached critical mass yet in other words who are we fighting about
We’re fighting about Taylor gu who at age 32 does not yet have a top 10 a major championship we’re fighting over Dean burmester and Lucas Herbert who are inside the top 100 and yet do not qualify automatically for the major championships this will only become a pressing matter for the major organization
When Bryson the shambo’s major exemption runs out when Dustin Johnson’s major exemption runs out when cam Smith’s or you know Brooks kepas could have this year had he not won the PGA until then the owgr could basically sit on their hands and wait for the landscape to
Shake itself out that to me is is is what they’re doing at the moment I would say two things are true here one live in no way put their best foot forward in constructing the league and trying adhere to the existing official World Golf Ranking guidelines so it’s not
Exactly a surprise when people I talked with on the inside at the outset said this would be a multi-year process and in no way have they tried to have this be properly shaped and constructed um to be awarded World Golf Ranking points which is what Matt Fitzpatrick said
Where he said okay I get why with the owgr guidelines they were turned down that being said with the star power that they now have on live and the entire roster there has to be uh some Embrace for Change and not just strict adherence to rigidity based on existing guidelines
I think it’s wild that a league in which you have Dustin Johnson Brooks kka John ROM cam Smith all playing they can’t figure out a manner in which there are some semblance of world rankings going forward and I do actually agree there should be an independent board it shouldn’t be all the stakeholders
Overseeing these tours they should be removed from it and you should have a board of say five people representing the best interest of what would be a worldwide ranking going forward the same organization that shot down lives bid is the same one that’s hosting the major
Championships and so it’s yeah I I agree there certainly should be some sort of Independence there I I think the official willo rankings are are fair but I I I think it’s impossible to say that they’re currently accurate I think two things can be same things two things can
Be true they’re fair but flawed yeah currently fair about flawed right now it it it looks very much like a PJ tour ranking
17 Comments
The OWGR has zero credibility without including the LIV players. Anyone can see that.
OWGR existed long before LIV. LIV made a format that didn't conform to the OWGR's rules which again, were already in place.
Greg Norman told all those dudes they'd get OWGR points in spite of the fact that LIV's format flew in the face of OWGR. All any of those players had to do was have a 1st year law student read the OWGR rules to them to see that they were not ever going to be earning OWGR points.
Your thumbnail poses the wrong question. The question should be: Why the fuck didn't LIV make a league that conformed to the OWGR's guidelines?
If you guys would get some guts and tell the truth, it may help. You all know this is BS. Golf fans needs to get younger. Liv is trying to make this happen plus take top players around the world. If the corrupt golf media would call out this BA ranking system, it would help pressure the 5/6 individuals that are in charge of the OWGR to make some changes. 6 guys are in charge of world golf? This is absurd!!
It should be called the lets keep the monopoly going golf rankings
Racism in golf
The OWGR is a mostly useless world golf ranking mechanism at this point.
As such, if the four majors were smart, they should mostly just ignore the OWGR and simply modify or create their own admission criteria to specifically allow for inviting a capped number of top LIV Golf players (who are not already past major champions) to their annual major tournaments.
The four majors should not care in the least what the PGA or OWGR think or want, and should be solely focused on maintaining the integrity and quality of their own annual championship events, so that all the very best players in the world are given fair opportunity to participate and get showcased on their global stage.
This is something the organizers of the four majors would be wise to address now, and immediately, without any further delay.
Failure to do so will undoubtedly lead to their major annual tournaments failing over time, in the eyes of both fans, viewers, and players alike.
The OWGR is a joke, lets be honest, stop the bs.
What this proves is that, even though OWGR has been what we’ve gone off of before LIV was ever a thing, some of the OWGR rule settings are outdated with where golf is at today. I agree that LIV should have done more, but at the same time OWGR and others included like PGA, DPWT etc. should have worked to make something work.
OWGR could penalize LIV golf for their no cut limited field if you were serious. Only give LIV 50% of what the field should get and only the top 24 players getting OWGR points. Problem solved.
Stiff?… You mean sh#t?….😅
FINALLY Golf Channel agrees the OWGR is not working and needs independent data to rank ALL players. OWGR will change if enough pressure from pro PGA media .
Worst case scenario LIV should have their own points system and say the top 5 or 6 players get to play in the majors. Liv now has better players and not having some of them in the majors is ridiculous. Its time for the golf world to wake up and realize that Liv is here to stay and needs to be respected. Thank goodness some guys have exemptions into the majors or the fields would be weak.
Fair but flawed?…
Black but white…
Big but small…
Good but bad…
Great work guys you closed the agrument. 👍👍👍
Lets call it what it is. Those reporters are just pissed we are 9 for 9 with long shot winners this season. The big boys havent brought it this season. Wyndham Clark was lucky when he backed into his win cause of bad weather. It took 2-3 years to admit those players were sold a bill of goods and everybody behind the scenes is bitching. I think reporters like Lav love the personalities like Bryson and DJ cause they make it 'easy' to tell their stories. PGA tour is in a great spot.
It's a valid representation of legitimate golf. The ones that chose money over legit golf(4 rounds with cuts) knew that when they made their decision.
Knowone watches liv on tv or in person. If the money wasn’t there, it wouldn’t even be a thing. It’s a joke. 😂
Just make a qualification system for LIV and make a cut and you can probably get points.