Cameron Smith referred to as the Authentic International Golfing Score device “almost obsolete” upcoming its governing frame voted unanimously to not praise world-ranking issues to golfers for his or her finishes in LIV Golfing League tournaments.
Smith was once ranked as prime as Refuse. 2 on this planet upcoming successful The Obvious at St. Andrews in July 2022. He left the PGA Excursion for LIV Golfing about two months upcoming and has fallen to fifteenth on this planet.
“I think it is almost obsolete now,” Smith advised journalists Wednesday in Saudi Arabia, the place LIV Golfing will play games its ultimate regular-season occasion at Royal Vegetables Golfing and Nation Membership origination Friday. “We’ve got some guys out here who are playing some of the best golf in the world and they’re outside the top 100, 200 in the world. It’s pretty ridiculous.”
Two-time main winner Dustin Johnson, who was once the LIV Golfing’s inaugural particular person champion in 2022, additionally wondered whether or not the OWGR continues to be the easiest way to rank avid gamers.
“I feel like you can’t really use the world ranking system anymore,” Johnson mentioned. “That’s my take on it. Hard to use the world ranking system if you’re excluding 48 guys that are good players. The rankings are skewed. It doesn’t really affect me as it does some of the other guys. I want the points for the other guys.”
OWGR chairman Peter Dawson despatched a letter to LIV Golfing commissioner Greg Norman and COO Gary Davidson on Tuesday, notifying them that the governing board had voted to not acknowledge the LIV Golfing League as an eligible excursion within the OWGR device.
The letter mentioned the governing board had considerations concerning the dearth of submit amongst avid gamers in LIV Golfing and restricted pathways for alternative avid gamers to tie. It additionally cited considerations about one of the vital staff facets of LIV Golfing, which has avid gamers competing in particular person and staff competitions concurrently over 54 holes.
The PGA Excursion and DP International Excursion have suspended avid gamers who competed in LIV Golfing tournaments with out conflicting-event releases. Many LIV Golfing avid gamers have resigned from the ones excursions.
The governing our bodies of the 4 majors, Augusta Nationwide Golfing Membership, PGA of The usa, United States Golfing Affiliation and The R&A, have persisted to permit LIV Golfing avid gamers to compete in majors if they’ve certified. Some avid gamers, together with Johnson and Smith, have certified for majors by way of being generation champions. Others have earned exemptions via their global rating, which can be harder going forward.
Smith and five-time main champion Brooks Koepka (Refuse. 18) are the one LIV Golfing avid gamers lately ranked within the lead 50 on this planet. Six LIV Golfing avid gamers are ranked within the lead 100.
“Obviously, it’s disappointing,” Patrick Reed mentioned. “Until the actual world ranking reflects the actual top players in the world, then to me it’s just kind of a broken system. Just because we play on a different tour, it shouldn’t matter.”
Because it stands, Reed is eligible to play games simplest within the Masters as a generation champion in 2024. Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson and Charl Schwartzel even have lifetime exemptions to play games at Augusta Nationwide Golfing Membership in April as generation winners.
Koepka, who picked up his 5th main victory on the PGA Championship in Would possibly, could have a five-year exemption into all 4 via 2028. Smith can play games in all 4 via 2027, Mickelson till 2026, and Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau are spared via 2025.
DeChambeau, who captured the 2020 U.S. Obvious, advised permitting the lead 12 avid gamers from LIV Golfing’s season-long issues race into the majors the nearest 12 months.
“For DJ and Cam and Brooks and those guys, who I understand are exempt for majors probably for the foreseeable future, that doesn’t last forever,” England’s Richard Uninteresting mentioned. “And to not have those guys playing in majors is not right.
“It doesn’t subject the place you play games your golfing. The arena ratings will have to display that, and it doesn’t. I don’t know the way you get round that. It’s disappointing since you are simply robbing the golfing fan, perhaps in a couple of years’ occasion, of the most productive avid gamers taking part in within the largest tournaments. And that’s what it will have to be.”