Do LIV golfers really deserve world ranking points?

Oh dear! It seems that there is no pleasing some people.

"Give us world ranking points," said LIV. "It’s not fair that our players are not being awarded them at our tournaments."

And so, on the eve of LIV’s new season, kicking off under the floodlights in Riyadh, the board of the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) announced that it would be awarding LIV players points for the first time. You would imagine that they might be pleased. No such luck.

LIV has decided to take issue with the decision to only give ranking points to the top-10 finishers at its tournaments. 

What on earth did they expect? 

I am of the opinion that the 54-hole format that existed until the end of last season amounted to little more than exhibition golf and, as such, should never have been considered for ranking points. LIV has moved on somewhat, expanding its format to 72 holes and its fields to 57 players. However, there will still be no 36-hole cut and tournaments will continue to tee off with a shotgun start.

It is not proper golf. And it is abundantly clear that all is not well within the LIV ranks. We have already seen Brooks Koepka quit and rejoin the PGA Tour, followed by Patrick Reed’s decision to follow suit and spend 2026 on the DP World Tour, where he has already picked up the Dubai Desert Classic title.

All of the above is bad enough, but what will surely concern the men who hold LIV’s purse strings more than anything else was hearing Bryson DeChambeau announce that the new LIV format is not what he signed up for. There has been much speculation about the American’s future and that will only grow. You can be certain that DeChambeau lawyers will have had a close look at the contract their man signed. It seems pretty obvious that if it specifically tied DeChambeau to 54-hole events then he would be gone by now.

Losing him would be another hammer blow. It could be a killer blow, the beginning of the end for LIV. He has a huge social media following and moves the needle in a way no golfer has done since Tiger Woods was in his prime. He is LIV’s Golden Egg. 

So exactly how have LIV reacted to OWGR’s decision to only award points to the top-10 finishers?

Not well. In a statement, they said: "This outcome is unprecedented. No other competitive tour or league in OWGR history has been subjected to such a restriction.

"Under these rules, a player finishing 11th in a LIV Golf event is treated the same as a player finishing 57th. Limiting points to only the top 10 finishers disproportionately harms players who consistently perform at a high level but finish just outside that threshold."

But here is the key issue: In all 24 other men's professional golf tours that are part of the OWGR, all players who make the cut earn points. Note the words "make the cut". If you tee up in a LIV tournament you know before you start that you are going to be completing 72 holes precisely because there is no cut. In my world, making the cut is a special skill and provides a unique drama. And over the years we have seen many players barely making the cut but storming through to win. 

In its own statement, the OWGR board said it is awarding points to LIV "in an effort to reflect the changing landscape of the men's professional game". However, it added that the points were being restricted to the top 10 finishers because it "recognises there are a number of areas where LIV Golf does not meet the eligibility standards set out by OWGR.

"This includes LIV Golf's average field size of 57 for 2026 versus the minimum of 75 set out in OWGR Regulations; exclusively no-cut events; the restrictive pathways to join LIV Golf with two spots filled from the Asian Tour's International Series and three from a "closed" promotions event which does not offset the turnover of players exiting the league; self-selection of players with players being recruited rather than earning their place on the tour in many cases and, in recent days, the addition/removal of players to/from teams based on their nationality rather than for meritocratic reasons."

LIV are not impressed. They say: "We expect this is merely a first step toward a structure that fully and fairly serves the players, the fans and the future of the sport. We entered this process in good faith and will continue to advocate for a ranking system that reflects performance over affiliation.

"The game deserves transparency. The fans deserve credibility. And the players deserve a system that treats them equally."

For the record, the winner of this week's opening event of the LIV Golf season will receive 23.03 OWGR points. Ludicrously, this is almost identical to the points awarded to the winner of a full-field DP World Tour event. The winner of the PGA Tour’s Phoenix Open will receive 59 points, while the winner of a PGA Tour signature event gets 66 points.

As things stand, England's Tyrrell Hatton and DeChambeau are, at 22nd and 33rd respectively, the only LIV players in the world's top 50. This story probably has some way to run but, for the life of me, I cannot understand why LIV believe they are being short-changed.

Let’s be perfectly clear about one thing - LIV is all about money. Do you believe that the likes of DeChambeau and Jon Rahm would have signed on the dotted line if they were not offered mouthwatering signing-on fees? And for Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood, Paul Casey and Ian Poulter, it represented an opportunity for golfers whose best days are long behind them to enjoy one final massive payday.

The young men who have signed LIV contracts risk their long-term legacies. I would challenge you to closely examine the field that is teeing up in Riyadh and ask yourself how many of these golfers you would pay to go and watch.