Greg Norman’s LIV Golf-OWGR Withdrawal Explores The Two Sides of Lingering PGA Tour Merger

Greg Norman announced on Tuesday that LIV Golf has withdrawn its world-ranking points bid from OWGR. Norman wrote in his memo, “We have made enormous efforts to fight for you and to ensure your accomplishments are recognized within the existing ranking system. Unfortunately, the OWGR has shown little willingness to productively work with us.”

Despite rejecting LIV Golf’s bid in October, OWGR COO Peter Dawson told the Associated Press that LIV’s 54-hole no-cut format could be incorporated in the future with some mathematical calculations. However, their key concern was the team aspect of the event and the lack of meritocracy.

While LIV has introduced the new promotions event, only four players (including one from the Asian Tour International Series) get through each year. Rex Hoggard at NBC pointed out that the 10 percent turnover relatively pales in comparison to the 20–25% turnover at most established Tours. So, Norman’s bold decision raises the question of what’s next for LIV golfers. Does the Great White Shark hope that a merger will solve the issue?

A sign of changing times for the PGA Tour and LIV Golf?

Norman pointed toward the disproportionate ranking system of the OWGR. Curiously, last year, the DP World Tour Championship got a field rating of 153.842, as opposed to 217.01953, the PGA Tour’s run-of-the-mill RSM Classic. The change came because of a shakeup in 2022, where recent performances were valued more than how manyof  the top 200 players were in the field, which relatively benefited the full-field PGA Tour events.

In the memo, the Great White Shark wrote, “Even if LIV Golf events were immediately awarded points, the OWGR system is designed such that it would be functionally impossible for you to regain positions close to the summit of the ranking, where so many of you belong.” 

Instead of vying for the points themselves, is the LIV Golf CEO relying on a post-merger scenario where LIV Golfers will tee up in some Tour events and thereby get better world ranking points? Given the bitterness and the division that exists on the PGA Tour regarding LIV golfers’ inclusion, it might seem unlikely at the moment. But discontent regarding world ranking points exists within the Tour as well. In fact, both Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele spoke about the need for an overhaul in the OWGR system recently.

Interestingly, SSG’s involvement can become relevant here. Jimmy Dunne, a Tour Policy Board member, said last year that only players who stay loyal to the Tour will receive the equity share. That can be one of the conditions under which the LIV Golfers might be brought back into the fold.

So, like European Tour players, LIV Golfers might have a chance to tee up stateside and earn world ranking points. That is, unless the major organizers obviate the need for OWGR by considering the LIV Golf money list or points list as a qualifying criteria. That seems unlikely because major organizers were also part of the board that denied the breakaway league world ranking points. 

So what are the alternatives for Greg Norman?

When OWGR first rejected the proposal, LIV Golf released a fiery response, lambasting the world-ranking authority. “OWGR’s sole objective is to rank the best players across the globe. Today’s communication makes it clear that it can no longer deliver that objective.” There are other alternatives for LIV Golf, Data Golf, and foremost, TUGR. It is not clear whether Norman looked at all the options. But each ranking comes with a caveat.

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For example, Data Golf rankings include PGA Tour Champions players as well. Nevertheless, only three players figure inside the top 25 as per Data Golf: Jon

Rahm (4), Joaquin Niemann (11), and Bryson DeChambeau (22). In TUGR, there are six players in the top 25. Brooks Koepka (20), Joaquin Niemann (17), Bryson DeChambeau (16), Talor Gooch (15), Tyrrell Hatton (9), and Jon Rahm (4).

Should LIV Golf decide to go ahead with any alternative points list to showcase its talents, that would be a departure from the norm and potentially hint at a thorny road in front. In fact, Kelley too believes that the merger might take longer than initially expected. Among the lingering issues to solve, the world ranking points further complicate the matter.

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