Former world No. 1 Jon Rahm said the Official World Golf Ranking system is no longer fit for its purpose, making his comments a day after LIV Golf formally withdrew its application to have players receive world ranking points from its tournaments.
LIV Golf first applied in July 2022 for recognition from OWGR, which helps determine entry into golf’s four majors, but was rejected in October mainly because its format has only 54 holes with no cuts.
Reigning Masters champion Rahm, who was No. 1 for 52 weeks, most recently in April and May, is currently ranked No. 3 despite making the switch to LIV Golf in December. Only four LIV Golf League players are ranked in the top 50 in the world.
“I’m going to be honest, I didn’t know they were still trying to get world ranking points. But the one thing I can say is I’m going to back to what I said two years ago in the DP World Tour Championship,” Rahm told reporters Wednesday. “I didn’t think it was a good system back then. And if anything, the more time that goes on, the more it proves to be wrong.”
Rahm highlighted Joaquin Niemann‘s rise as an example of why the rankings system was out of touch. The 76th-ranked Chilean, who won last week’s LIV Golf event in Saudi Arabia, received invites to three majors: the Masters, Open and PGA Championship.
“I’m very happy to see Joaco get invites. … While we don’t have a clear path to majors through LIV yet, I think they should be taking everybody under consideration,” Rahm said. “If anybody in this world doesn’t think Joaco deserves to be in the top 10 or doesn’t know that he’s a top player in the world, I don’t know what game you’re watching.
“We can tell. I think anybody who watches golf can tell who the best players in the world are. Obviously I don’t think the ranking is reflective of that right now to its entirety.”
2020 U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, who made the switch to LIV Golf in June 2022, said: “I just think what’s right is in the best interest of the game, and we should focus on having the best players at the majors.
“What I think about it is we need to find a collective way, all the governing bodies, everybody, come together, sit down and figure this out, because we need to do this for the fans.”
LIV Golf CEO and commissioner Greg Norman told players in a letter Tuesday that the league would work with the governing bodies of the four major championships to get more of its players in fields.
Rahm added that it was not up to the players to come up with a solution.
“Our job shouldn’t be to make the rules or impose the rules or enforce the rules. We’re here to entertain,” Rahm said. “It’s the governing bodies’ job to be doing this and be adaptable to the changing environment.”
Information from ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and Reuters contributed to this report.