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Jon Rahm joined LIV Golf in December 2023 and became one of the most high-profile signings.
Masters champion Jon Rahm says the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) is not a “good system” after LIV Golf withdrew its application to join.
A letter from the league's CEO, Greg Norman, told players that they would not be competing for world ranking points.
“It's clear that the best way forward for LIV as a league and for LIV golfers is not through the current ranking system,” Norman said.
“I'm going to go back to what I said two years ago. I didn't think that.” [OWGR] It was a good system at the time,” Spaniard Rahm said before the LIV Golf Hong Kong, which starts on Friday.
“If anything, the more time passes, the more it proves wrong,” the 29-year-old added.
When LIV Golf first filed in July 2022, one month after its founding, OWGR expressed concerns about the new league format.
The same 54 players participate throughout the season, playing a 54-hole, shotgun start, no-cut event.
“There is no longer a resolution to protect the accuracy, reliability and integrity of the OWGR rankings,” said Norman's letter to LIV players, seen by BBC Sport.
“OWGR has shown little desire to work productively with us.”
LIV players can only improve their world rankings, which is one of the factors that determine eligibility for major championships, through DP World Tour events, the Asian Tour, or other satellite tours.
With LIV Golf players unable to earn points in circuit events, many of the big names who have left the U.S. PGA Tour have fallen down the rankings, and Rahm is one of only four LIV players currently in the OWGR top 50. One of us.
Fellow major champion Bryson DeChambeau said it was up to those in charge of the game to find a “collective way” to resolve the issue.
“We should focus on having the best players in the majors,” the American said.
“All governing bodies, everyone, come together and sit down and think about this, because we need to do this for our fans.”
LIV and PGA Tour players compete against each other in major tournaments, and many LIV players qualify for tournaments based on their past performance.
Majors can make exceptions and issue their own invitations, as happened this year when Chile's Joaquín Niemann was given special invitations to next month's U.S. Masters and May's PGA Championship. Ta.
“Now they're giving one player a chance before they find a solution,” Rahm said. “I think the door is opening little by little.
“If there are people in this world who don’t think of Joaco, [Niemann] I don't know what games he's watching, does he deserve to be in the top 10, or don't know he's a top player in the world. ”
DeChambeau said players should be invited to the majors based on their performance the previous year.
“They do it [the PGA] It's the Tour Championship, right? It’s very simple,” he said.
Merger negotiations are still ongoing between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which funds LIV Golf.
