LIV Golf attempted to beat the world ranking scores to achieve the world ranking score under consideration when OWGR reviewed the MENA Tour request
Despite efforts to find a backdoor that helps its players earn points on the Official World Golf Leaderboard by ranking themselves with the little-known MENA Tour, LIV Golf continues to be denied access so at the present time. In a statement released on Thursday, OWGR said it will review developments before making a decision, although that review will not be conclusive before the next two LIV events are completed.
The MENA Tour (Middle East and North Africa Tournament) is a fledgling $75,000 tournament that hasn’t held many events since the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s not notable in the list of related tours globally, but its members can earn OWGR points. LIV Golf, which hosts 54-hole tournaments without a cut and has therefore been denied access to OWGR points, this week formed a “strategic alliance” with the MENA Tour.
The idea put forward by LIV Golf was that the MENA Tour presents LIV tournaments as a “limited course event” under its banner, thus opening OWGR points to LIV golfers, many of whom are stars. the biggest in the game has chosen to leave the PGA Tour for the wealthy guaranteed by the Saudi-backed tournament.
OWGR scores allow golfers to stay relevant in the world rankings and qualify for major championships.
OWGR responded to the request as follows:
OWGR notes that the first two tournaments in [the MENA Tour’s newly submitted schedule] looks like the LIV Golf Invitational Series tournaments in Bangkok and Jeddah. The communication from the MENA Tour includes a starting field data file for the tournament in Bangkok, confirming that it is.
OWGR is currently reviewing changes to the MENA Tour.
The notice of these changes issued by MENA Tour was not sufficient to allow OWGR to conduct the necessary routine review ahead of the LIV Golf Invitational Bangkok (October 7-9) and the LIV Golf Invitational Jeddah (October 14-16). ).
Only after the review process is complete will a decision be made on the awarding of points to the new MENA Tour “Limited Course Tournaments”, defined by the MENA Tour in its Regulations as “any tournament approved by the MENA Tour, including a field of less than 80 players”.
In some ways, this is a clever attempt by LIV to follow the rules laid out by OWGR. Follow Sports Illustrated. OWGR widely requires OWGR affiliated tournaments to be portable, and the move from the MENA Tour to the Asian Tour and then to LIV Golf will provide mobility on tours that would have seemed non-existent when LIV began. head. It’s a complicated road, but it exists.
“I think from a player’s point of view, it’s great that everyone at LIV is fighting so hard for the players and their best interests,” Phil Mickelson told SI. “I think for the World Golf Rankings, this is a great way to keep its credibility, while not bringing politics into the decision-making process. I think it’s good for all parties.”
This is certainly not a “no” from OWGR, but it is not what LIV wants to hear. However, LIV is trying many different creative ways to get OWGR score. As time went on and more and more paintings appeared, it seemed ever more possible for them to be able to get them. Whether it is through the MENA Tour or the Asian Tour or simply changing their format and structure to better align with OWGR regulations, the path remains to be considered. However, given the caliber of players on the LIV roster, it would be surprising at this point if it didn’t end up working on its own one way or another.
