The unfortunate fate of LIV Golfers related to OWGR and major tournaments is carried over to the Olympics as well. However, Rory McIlroy had different thoughts on it. Recently the four-time major champion said to Golf Week “If you want to qualify for the Olympics, you knew what you had to do,” pointing out that be it PGA Tour or LIV golfers they are aware of the criteria for the qualifiers at the Olympics. As it happened, Joaquin Niemann also shared his thoughts on the matter indirectly challenging the Irishman’s view.

Niemann completed his first round with a total of 66 5-under-par and finished at T5 after the first round. Following the conclusion of his round, the LIV Golfer joined the press conference at the Le Golf National and while they talked about his first round he was also asked about his views on the qualification criteria for the Olympics.

As a response, the golfer simply said, “You tell me. I don’t think it’s fair,” giving a 5-word statement. This comes after McIlroy shared his view on the issue, which indirectly challenged the Northern Irishman’s perspective. As per the Chilean pro, he doesn’t agree with the qualifiers being related to the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).

The qualifying criteria for the Olympics consider the top 15 golfers in the OWGR with four golfers per country. However, for the LIV Golfers, it’s already hard to earn those ranking points regardless of performance. Possibly highlighting that, Niemann further in the press conference said, “Because you don’t have the best players right now I feel like.” Surprisingly Niemann isn’t the only one who disagrees with the qualifying criteria. Jon Rahm feels the same in a way too.

What did Jon Rahm have to say about the Olympics’ qualifying criteria?

The 2024 US Open Champion, Bryson DeChambeau, became a victim of the ranking criteria. Despite his performance, he wasn’t given the chance to represent the USA, and the reason remains the same: world rankings. Witnessing all that, Jon Rahm also had something to say about the qualifying criteria. Two days before the first round of golf at the Olympics he suggested an interesting point. He said, “I think you can always do it, like with other sports, and allow the countries to pick themselves.” According to him, it should be up to the country to decide who they want representing them at the Olympics.

The criteria related to world rankings are in golf only and the Spaniard believes “there needs to be some guidelines, but like Team USA Basketball is free to choose whoever they want. I understand it’s a different circumstance, but I think you need to let each country choose who they want to play,” as revealed in the Golf Digest.

Do you think the Olympic qualifying criteria for golf are fair? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!