It’s common knowledge that LIV Golf players have generally dropped down the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) since signing for the circuit. However, the issue is brought into even sharper focus when comparing the rankings of LIV Golf players competing in the week’s Masters to their places a year ago.
Eighteen LIV Golf players have qualified for the tournament at Augusta National this week, and only two aren’t lower than in the rankings than this time last year.
One is Cameron Smith. As he teed it up in last year’s tournament, the Australian was World No.6. Smith’s finished third before eventually winning his first Major, the 150th Open three months later. That helped him rise to World No.2, but after signing for LIV Golf last August, Smith is currently back in the position he held a year ago.
Beyond him, the list soon takes on a familiar tone for LIV Golf players. Dustin Johnson, who is one of six LIV Golf players who has won The Masters, was World No.8 at last year’s event, but now sits at World No.69, perhaps not wholly surprising considering he has taken part in just five world ranking events since then.
Another high-profile player, Bryson DeChambeau, came into last year’s tournament having recovered from wrist surgery. However, despite his enforced absence in the months leading up to the tournament, he was still World No.14 when it began. This year, he begins as World No.155.
Bryson DeChambeau has fallen from World No.14 to World No.155 since the 2022 tournament
(Image credit: Getty Images)
It’s a similar story for Louis Oosthuizen, who was one place behind the big-hitting American at the start of the 2022 tournament. Now, he’s World No.120. It would be lower were it not for his top-10 finishes in two of the eight OWGR events he’s played since then.
Mexican Abraham Ancer joined LIV Golf later than Johnson, DeChambeau and Oosthuizen, who were part of the original intake. That has helped him retain a relatively high ranking, currently World No.31. It is further assisted by his participation in nine world ranking events since, including his win in February’s Saudi International. However, his current position is still 15 places lower than the one he held before last year’s tournament
Brooks Koepka was another relative latecomer to LIV Golf, but, unlike Ancer, he’s only played in five ranking events since The Masters, and failed to finish in the top 10 in any of them. As a result, he’s slipped 99 places, from World No.19 to World…
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