How Will LIV Golfers Qualify for Majors After Greg Norman’s Massive Decision?

LIV Golf has formally given up the OWGR. After a continued fight since July 2022, the breakaway league’s CEO, Greg Norman, has recently revealed his disappointment with the OWGR and subsequent loss of hope in the prevalent system as it no longer “protects the accuracy, credibility, and integrity of the OWGR rankings.”

“The OWGR has shown little willingness to productively work with us,” said Norman in a letter to LIV Golfers before the onset of the Hong Kong event. It has come to the attention of the golf world that, as of Tuesday, the league has formally withdrawn its application for obtaining OWGR accreditation.

Even in expressing his disappointment in the Saudi-backed league’s inability to get its players world ranking points, Norman made an attempt to illustrate his point further. He said, “The rankings are structured to penalize anyone who has not played regularly on an “eligible Tour” with the field ratings disproportionately rewarding play on the PGA Tour.” He further illustrated his stance by presenting the fact that “only four players inside the top 50 are not PGA Tour players (Jon Rahm (3), Tyrrell Hatton (17), Brooks Koepka (30), and Cam Smith (45).”

With four major events scheduled in the coming months, questions have arisen about the impact of this decision on LIV golfers. In the event of a recently lost battle, LIV Golfers will have to take on the international route to the Majors, something Joaquin Niemann seems to have perfected.

Following the Niemann model of balancing both worlds amicably by going the extra mile, LIV golf defectors who are steadily falling down the world rankings order can get special invites or exemptions through the back door.

He also talked about how the choice of the now-unjust system has seen extraordinary players decline down the list despite performing exceedingly simply due to its persistence. But how was the OWGR actually a lost battle for the Saudi-funded league?

How did the OWGR decision-makers react to Norman’s plea at first?

Last year, when the top voices of the OWGR declined LIV Golf’s plea to include it within its purview, the OWGR board chairman Peter Dawson declared, “We are not at war with them [LIV Golf].” 

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They further explained how the decision is rooted in “technical” problems that cannot be termed “political” in any sense. Their reasoning was rooted on the grounds that even if they could work out a mathematical way to reward such players for the difference in cut, holes, or field size,.

An insurmountable problem will arise when attempting to do the same for “the lack of turnover” and a “recurring field from week to week” coupled with “the lack of promotion and relegation at the end of a season.”

What are your thoughts about Greg Norman’s and LIV Golf’s withdrawal from the OWGR race? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!

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