Jon Rahm isn’t afraid to tell you what he thinks, and now he has some thoughts on the Official World Golf Ranking. While most of the OWGR debate in recent weeks has focused on whether the organization awards points to future LIV Golf members, Rahm pursued OWGR for a different reason before the Tournament. DP World Tour winner ends the season in Dubai.
Rahm is annoyed that the winner of the DP World Tour Championship — the field that includes him, Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry and Tyrrell Hatton, all in the top 30 in OWGR — only get 22 OWGR points while the winner of the RSM Classic on the PGA Tour will get 38 points.
The reason the winner of the RSM Classic gets more points than the winner of the DP World Tour Championship is because the DP World Tour Championship has only 50 competitors while the RSM Classic has 144. In other words, OWGR believes it is harder than beating 143 good to bad players compared to seven really good players and 42 other average players. This doesn’t sit well with Rahm, one of those seven really good players.
“I’ll be as frank as possible,” Rahm said. “I think OWGR is ridiculous right now. It’s funny. It’s funny. The fact that RSM doesn’t have any of the top 20 in the world has more points than this event when we have 7 of the top 20. It’s funny the fact that Wentworth has less points than Napa, having players in the top 10 in the world is ridiculous.
“I understand what they’re trying to do with the depth of the pitch, but having the best players in the world automatically makes the league better. I don’t care what their system says. I think they made a mistake I think some aspects of it could be beneficial, but I think they devalued the better players.
“For example easily, the 30 best players of the year shouldn’t be punished because it’s a smaller pitch. The depth of the pitch doesn’t mean the league is better. I can go on and on. I think they missed that goal a bit.”
Rahm makes some good points here and here are the differences from the old OWGR system, which was changed earlier in 2022. For example, last year’s DP World Tour Championship awarded 46 points to champion while the RSM Classic awards 44 points to the winner. The changes in OWGR in 2022 have pretty much impacted the smaller events and lowered their field ratings significantly compared to the past.
Interestingly, although an RSM winner may be disproportionately rewarded for his win, the further you go down the leaderboard, the smaller the reward in the smaller field. For example, to earn an OGWR at RSM Classic, you must finish 50th (or beat 93 other players). To earn an OWGR point at the DP World Tour Championship, you must finish 28th (or beat 21 other players).
“Listen, knowing how math works is beyond my salary, and I understand them — priorities aren’t words but they also add value to the depth of the field as well. like rankings in the lower parts of the rankings are lower,” added Rahm.
“But do you want to win a tournament when you have the world No. 1 there or because you’re 30 or 6 there? I think it’s more valuable if you beat it. [the] best player in the world. I think a lot of people would agree and I think it should reflect that.
“And if that’s not the case, then at least the points gap isn’t as disparate as it is right now. Because we’re not talking about the best PGA Tour events in a season where you have many, many players. We’re talking about a tournament that doesn’t even have a single player in the top 20. For me, that’s a problem when you have seven of them here. I don’t know how to fix it. what, right. I understand what they were trying to do when they changed some things, but I think like I said, they missed the mark.”
McIlroy, the world No 1 and also playing this week in Dubai, praised the new system on Tuesday.
“Does that upset people? Yes, because people are used to receiving a certain amount [OWGR] point in an event and now it has been removed. But I’d say those events are happening more than they should.
“I think it’s the fairest system you can think of right now. And a lot of work has been done; five years of algorithms and analysis and work has been put into the system, so so It can’t be changed overnight. A lot has gone into it. It’s the best we can think of right now and I think it’s going to take some time. It’s going to take another 18 months for it to happen. works because everyone has two years in the rotation system.
“When it was rolled out there was a slight difference, but after we went through two years and had the minimum divisor and all the facts. I think you’ll see a fairer reflection of the position. of everyone in the world. qualified.”
