LIV Golf has criticised the Official World Golf Ranking’s (OWGR) unanimous decision to award ranking points only to the top 10 finishers and ties at its 2026 events, calling the move “unprecedented” and unfair. The ruling, announced Tuesday, grants LIV Golf OWGR points for the first time since the series launched in 2022, but places its tournaments in the OWGR category of “Small Field Tournaments” with strict limits on who can earn points.
LIV welcomed the acknowledgement that “performance on the course should matter,” but said the top-10-only rule disproportionately penalises players who finish just outside that mark. “Under these rules, a player finishing 11th in a LIV Golf event is treated the same as a player finishing 57th,” the series said, adding the restriction hurts consistent performers and emerging talent trying to establish themselves. LIV also noted that no other competitive tour in OWGR history had faced such a limitation and expressed hope the decision represents an initial step toward a fairer approach.
OWGR chairman Trevor Immelman, the former Masters champion, said the review was “incredibly complex and challenging,” and that the board had spent seven months assessing LIV’s application. Immelman said the OWGR had to balance ranking the world’s leading players against maintaining fairness to the many players on other tours that follow established meritocratic pathways. He said the board aimed to “enable the best-performing players at LIV Golf events to receive OWGR points” while protecting those wider standards.
The OWGR cited several reasons for its approach: average LIV field sizes fall well below the 75-player minimum in its criteria; LIV events do not use a cut; and the tour currently lacks clear merit-based routes onto its roster, with concerns about turnover and player selection under contract. Although LIV has changed its format from 54 holes to 72 holes for 2026, the OWGR said that was not the main issue, noting some other small tours stage 54-hole events. The new status and scoring rules take effect immediately as LIV begins its season in Saudi Arabia, and OWGR said it will continue to reassess eligibility as the series evolves.
At present, two LIV players are inside the world top 50 — England’s Tyrrell Hatton at No. 22 and Bryson DeChambeau at No. 33 — and five others appear among the top 100, including Jon Rahm at No. 97. The decision closes a debate that has continued since LIV’s 2022 launch. OWGR previously rejected LIV’s first application in October 2023, when then-chairman Peter Dawson said the board could not fairly measure the series against other tours. Immelman, who succeeded Dawson last year, had been in regular contact with LIV CEO Scott O’Neil during the latest review.
Despite reservations, the board made LIV Golf the 25th circuit included in the OWGR. The PGA Tour said it “respected” the OWGR decision and acknowledged the time Immelman devoted to the process. LIV concluded that it had entered the application process “in good faith” and pledged to keep pressing for a ranking system that “reflects performance over affiliation,” seeking greater transparency, credibility for fans, and equal treatment for players.