LIV Golf’s four-year battle to be recognised by golf’s peak world ranking body has finally produced a favourable result for the Saudi-backed tour, albeit with a catch that it is has labelled unfair.
The Official World Golf Ranking will hand out world-ranking points for the first time this season, but only to the top 10 finishers.
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It means that coming 11th in a LIV event is the same as finishing 57th — a call that LIV said was “unprecedented” and “disproportionately harms players who consistently perform at a high level but finish just outside that threshold”.
Under the decision, LIV Golf events will be ranked as “small tournament fields”, meaning that they will not be awarded the full allotment seen on the PGA or DP World Tours.
Not only will players outside the top-10 finishers not get any points, but the winner this week in Saudi Arabia is projected to win 23 — less than half of winners of full-field PGA Tour events.
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The decision opens the door to LIV Golf players to play themselves into the four majors, albeit with a significant handicap.
That is despite LIV Golf’s decision to expand its 54-hole format to 72 holes from this year.
LIV Golf said in a statement that it had been handed a “long‑overdue moment of recognition, which affirms the fundamental principle that performance on the course should matter, regardless of where the competition takes place.”
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Nonetheless, the tour remains unsatisfied by the outcome.
“No other competitive tour or league in OWGR history has been subjected to such a restriction,” the statement said.
“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.”
Central to the OWGR’s decision to not fully recognise LIV Golf events was the fact it still does not meet other crucial criteria, even after expanding to four-day tournaments.
Their fields of just 57 players is still well below OWGR standards of at least 75, while the lack of a mid-tournament cut remains a roadblock.
Furthermore, the OWGR pointed out certain restrictions to players on the tour, pointing out some stars were “self-selected” rather than earning their spots, while others have lost out “based on their nationality rather than for meritocratic reasons.”
For example, Japan’s Jinichiro Kozuma was dropped for this season despite finishing 32nd on the LIV Golf standings to make room for Iron Heads GC to be re-branded as Korean Golf Club.
“This has been an incredibly complex and challenging process and one which we have devoted a huge amount of time and energy to resolving in the seven months since LIV Golf submitted their application,” OWGR chairman Trevor Immelman said in a statement.
“We fully recognised the need to rank the top men’s players in the world but at the same time had to find a way of doing so that was equitable to the thousands of other players competing on other tours that operate with established meritocratic pathways.
“We believe we have found a solution that achieves these twin aims and enables the best-performing players at LIV Golf events to receive OWGR points.
“I would like to acknowledge the substantial and constructive efforts made by Scott O’Neil and the team at LIV Golf. We look forward to working with them on implementing this approach with immediate effect for the 2026 LIV Golf season.”
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