Greg Norman says the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) will become obsolete if they don’t include LIV Golf players.
LIV’s events don’t currently qualify for ranking points, meaning all those players who jumped ship are seeing their world rankings plummet. Latest signing Cameron Smith is the only top-10 ranked LIV player, but his fall has started, and he’s down from World No.2 to No.3. Former World No.1 Dustin Johnson has dropped to 23rd while Phil Mickelson is now 120th.
Last month, Norman sent a letter to the OWGR citing the strength of the fields in LIV events as a reason to be included, despite the events not fulfilling certain criteria, like a 36-hole cut or 72-hole tournament length. In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Norman has doubled down on his thoughts that the OWGR will cease to be relevant if they ignore those playing with LIV, and confirmed he has no intention of changing the format to 72-holes.
Norman said: “It makes OWGR look obsolete if they don’t [accept LIV]. If they wake up at the end of the year and Dustin Johnson is 102 in the world, is that not a laughing stock to the OWGR? There’s two ways they can go: they can either fold, or they include LIV into OWGR.”
The LIV chief also urged the Majors to stay neutral as the fallout between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf continues. While many of LIV’s players have exemptions to play in Majors, others would normally be relying on their world ranking to get them into the season’s premiere tournaments.
“If [the Majors] ban players because of the PGA Tour, they have no right to tell each of those Majors what to do, they’re independent organisations,” Norman told the Sydney Morning Herald. “If you were a broadcaster you would be questioning the value of your investment for television if you don’t have the strongest field in each and every one of them. I hope they stay Switzerland.”
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