If the leaders of the Official World Golf Ranking won’t allow LIV Golf players to earn ranking points to qualify for major championships, 2020 U.S. Open champ Bryson DeChambeau is urging officials to come up with an alternative.
“We would love to find another way to be integrated into the major championship system since I think we have some of the best players in the world,” DeChambeauu said Wednesday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he’s playing in LIV’s final regular-season tournament of the year.
What would he suggest?
“Top 12 on the list, the money list at the end of the year, or the points list at the end of the year would be, I think, obvious for the major championships to host the best players in the world at those four events each year,” said DeChambeau, who reached his career-high world ranking of No. 4 in May 2021.
He now is ranked No. 132.
DeChambeau was entered in all four majors in 2023. He missed the cut at the Masters Tournament, tied for fourth at the PGA Championship, tied for 20th at the U.S Open and tied for 60th at The Open.
He still had an exemption as a previous major winner to play in the majors. World rankings are the alternate main source of determining who can play in the majors, but with LIV players unable to earn points toward a ranking, those without exemptions will be left out.
DeChambeau, 30, called the OWGR decision “sad” but didn’t seem to have regrets about leaving the PGA Tour last year for the fledgling Saudi Arabia-funded LIV.
“This is an amazing opportunity for every one of us,” he said of playing on the big-money LIV circuit, funded with Saudi Arabian cash. “I think we’ve told that narrative quite a bit, and we want to continue to change and grow the game in places like Saudi Arabia, like Singapore, like Australia, numerous places we’ve all been throughout this year, and we’re going to continue to do so over the course of time. I think that’s what’s needed, I think it’s what’s necessary, and I think we are doing a solid job of it so far, and it’s only going to get better.”
The OWGR board sent a letter to Greg Norman, the CEO of LIV Golf, on Tuesday that denied the organization’s request for its players to earn ranking points. The letter cited the lack of player turnover, the closed nature of LIV Golf and its team format as reasons for the denial.
–Field Level Media