LIV Golf has achieved some victories this season in its quest to establish itself as one of the leading tours in the world of golf. In addition to the direct paths to qualify for the US Open and Open Championship, they hope to soon be able to add world ranking points for their tournaments.
Proof of this is that they recently formally reapplied to the Official World Golf Rankings to join their points system, despite the fact that little or nothing has changed since the last time they did so, at least visibly.
The matter hasn’t ended there; there has been direct contact between the authorities of both institutions. This was confirmed by LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil during his press conference prior to the event being played this week in the United Kingdom.
“It’s still a bit premature,” O’Neil said according to the press conference’s transcripts. “We have filed an application, and I’m in pretty good contact with (OWGR’s chairman) Trevor Immelman. We have a call later this week. He’s been a good source of encouragement, push-back, debate, and we’ve both agreed to keep those conversations between the two of us until we take another step forward.”
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Beginning this season, both the US Open and the Open Championship created direct pathways for one LIV Golf player to qualify for their respective majors based solely on their league results. This is a limited number, but it has been welcomed by the tour and its supporters as a step in the direction they hope for.
The league has also received support from several major sponsors, both for its teams and for some individual players.
Little Has Changed in LIV Golf’s System
Aside from plans for future modifications to the LIV Golf system, which may have been communicated to the OWGR but not to the general public, little has changed in the league’s format since its last application to enter the world ranking system.
The main reason that led the OWGR to reject LIV Golf’s first application remains fully in place. It is the tour’s lack of solid qualification and relegation methods that allows players to compete for access to it.
LIV Golf implemented player relegation, a system that to date has left more questions than answers. Last year, only five of the 52 starting players and one reserve player were relegated, and two of them, Bubba Watson and Branden Grace, were later re-signed by their respective teams. There was no qualifying system whatsoever.
The league also created two ways to compete for a roster spot, but this hasn’t been a good-looking prospect either. A spot is awarded to the winner of the Asian Tour’s International Series, but if the winner is already an LIV player (as was the case last year), the benefit doesn’t carry over to the next eligible player.
The other method is the promotions event, which last season awarded only one contract to the winner. The benefit went to Chien Li Po, who wasn’t even given a spot on a team, but is instead playing as an individual with a wild card.
The primary method of entry into LIV Golf remains direct player signings. This is something that will undoubtedly be a focus of the OWGR’s attention when evaluating the application.
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