Admittedly not getting a lot consideration till now, former world No. 1 Jon Rahm joined different {golfing} luminaries on Wednesday in slamming the Official World Golf Ranking System.
Rahm, who moved to LIV Golf late final yr, is making ready to compete in a Saudi Arabia-backed league event in Hong Kong this weekend. LIV Golf CEO and Commissioner Greg Norman informed gamers Tuesday that the league has formally withdrawn its utility to the OWGR to permit golfers to earn world rating factors in tournaments.
Rahm, who received the Masters final April, is one in all solely 4 LIV golfers at the moment ranked within the prime 50 on the earth.
“To be trustworthy, I did not know they have been nonetheless attempting to get world rating factors. But one factor I’ll say is, it goes again to what I stated two years in the past on the DP World Tour Championship.” ” Rahm stated Wednesday, by way of ESPN. “I did not assume it was a very good system on the time. In reality, the extra time passes, the extra I notice it was fallacious.”
Although it isn’t the one method, world rating factors are the usual methodology for many gamers to qualify for main championships every year. For instance, the Masters invitations the highest 50 gamers within the OWGR to play at his nationwide in Augusta if they might not in any other case qualify. A LIV Golf participant doesn’t obtain World Ranking factors for his efficiency in an occasion, and a win mechanically earns him factors to a significant championship, like if he wins on the PGA Tour. It doesn’t provide the proper to take part.
Jon Rahm joined different main LIV golfers in scrapping the OWGR system on Wednesday after the league withdrew its utility for world rating factors. (François Nel/Getty Images)
As a end result, the world rankings of many prime LIV golfers have plummeted. For instance, Brooks Koepka is ranked thirtieth and Bryson DeChambeau is ranked 182nd. Dustin Johnson, who beforehand held the highest spot within the rankings, heads to Hong Kong in 266th place.
Rahm additionally pointed to Joaquin Niemann when making his level. Niemann, ranked 76th on the earth, received LIV Golf’s Saudi Arabia event final week. He then acquired particular invites to the Masters, British Open, and PGA Championship. These occasions most likely wouldn’t have certified you in any other case.
“I’m very completely happy to see Joaco get an invitation. … There’s nonetheless not a transparent path to the majors by LIV, however I feel they need to take everybody into consideration,” Rahm stated. “If there are folks on this world who assume Gioaco would not need to be within the prime 10, or who do not know that he is the highest participant on the earth, I do not know what fights you are watching. I do not perceive.
“I perceive that. I feel anybody who watches golf is aware of who the most effective gamers on the earth are. Of course, I do not assume the rankings absolutely mirror that at this level.”
There has been loads of rivalry within the golf world lately, and the partnership between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour has stalled months after setting a self-imposed deadline, but it surely seems a brand new settlement has been reached between gamers from each leagues. Sports wants to come back collectively once more.
And Rahm stated the blame would not lie with him or every other participant.
“Our job is to not make guidelines or impose guidelines or implement guidelines. We’re right here to entertain,” Rahm stated. “It is the job of governing our bodies to do that and adapt to the altering surroundings.”