Renowned LIV Golf critic reacts to OWGR decision: "The right thing to do"

Brandel Chamblee has explained why he believes the OWGR's decision to award only the top-10 LIV Golf players points was the correct thing to do. 

The sport's global rankings body revealed on Tuesday before their curtain-raiser in Riyadh that it was to award LIV players points for the first time. 

The decision has been years in the making and was expected to be met with delirium by the PIF-backed league. 

However, they hit out at what they described as "an unprecedented decision" despite the "long-overdue moment of recognition". 

In a lengthy statement, LIV said under the rules it was extremely unfair that a player finishing 11th in the league is treated the same as someone in 57th. 

Chamblee, who has repeatedly criticised LIV Golf since its inauguration, took to X on 3 February to set out his position. 

"While my position on LIV golf is unchanged, I think it was the right thing for the OWGR to do," he wrote.  

"Elite players were falling in the rankings for reason unrelated to performance which undermined the core claim of the 'world rankings.' 

"The OWGR was drifting away from clearly showing 'who is best' and the sense was that it was acting as a gatekeeper rather than an evaluator. 

"Having said this, in my opinion, the OWGR is still a flawed system of measurement and may have solved a fairness problem but not the truth problem and Data Golf is a much better way of predicting who is most likely to play the best any given week."

Read his full post here:

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OWGR board defend decision

Trevor Immelman, the chairman of the OWGR, said in the seven months since LIV resubmitted their bid the process has been "incredibly complex and challenging". 

"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," he said. 

"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."

A flawed system?

The winner of this week's PGA Tour event in Phoenix is expected to receive 59 points, whilst the victor at the Qatar Masters on the DP World Tour is expected to receive approximately 23. 

Winners of the PGA Tour's signature events - featuring smaller fields - earns 66. 

The champion of LIV's opening event in Riyadh will walk away with 23.03 OWGR points. 

It means LIV golfers will have to go on a sustained run of top finishes to make a meaningful move up the OWGR. 

England's Tyrrell Hatton is currently the highest-ranked LIV player at 22nd, followed by Bryson DeChambeau (33) and Jon Rahm (97th).