Jon Rahm has launched an assault on the Official Workd Golf Rankings (OWGR), brandishing the recent changes to strength of field calculations as “laughable”.
The Spaniard is in town for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship that features a stellar cast of star names to bring the curtain down on the 2022 Race to Dubai.
However, despite seven of the world’s top-25 players set to commence battle over the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates, because it’s a limited-field event, the winner will receive just 21 points, a fraction of the 37 Collin Morikawa picked up last year under the old system.
In contrast, the top-ranked player at the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic this week is Seamus Power, who sits 30th, yet the winner on Sunday in Sea Island will walk away with 39 points. This is because the new system, launched in August, rewards larger field sizes, something which Rahm lambasted as a “mistake” as he sat beside DP World Tour chief and one of eight OWGR committee members, Keith Pelley.
“I’m going to be as blunt as I can. I think the OWGR right now is laughable,” he said. “Laughable, laughable, laughable. The fact that the RSM doesn’t have any of the top 25 in the world but has more points than this event where we have seven of the top 25 is laughable.
“The fact that Wentworth [for the BMW PGA Championship] had fewer points than Napa [for that week’s Fortinet Championship] is laughable.
“Look, I understand what they are trying to do with the depth of field but having the best players in the world automatically makes the tournament better. I don’t care what their system says. I think they’ve made a mistake. They have devalued the value of the better players.
“Would you rather win a tournament when you have the No. 1 player in the world or because you have the 30th? I think it’s more valuable if you’re beating the best players in the world. I think a lot of people would agree and it should reflect that.”
The Spaniard is not the only player to criticise the OWGR update that has been detrimental to European and International-based circuits. An Asian Tour event in September was labelled “a joke” for offering just 2.28 points to winner Travis Smyth, while no shortage of LIV players have questioned the legitimacy of the world rankings.
The breakaway series is currently waiting to hear if its “two-pronged approach” to acquiring OWGR recognition will prove successful. On paper, the upstart circuit appears to fall short in meeting a number of criteria, although…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golf Monthly RSS Feed…