Because they don’t compete on the PGA Tour, Matt Fitzpatrick expressed his opinion that golfers with LIV Golf are being unfairly ranked by the OWR.
Since LIV Golf players aren’t included in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), Matt Fitzpatrick has stopped paying attention to them.
The 29-year-old disclosed that in order to gauge which players are currently performing well, he now prefers to believe other sources. Fitzpatrick didn’t hold back when he criticized the OWGR for favoring players on the PGA Tour over considering a player’s whole body of work, which includes LIV.
He told Golf Today, “There’s a lot of strength and depth on this tour.” “While I acknowledge that this year’s winners played better than I did, I don’t believe the world rankings accurately reflect the state of the game right now. I no longer really give them much thought or attention. I simply don’t believe they are correct.”
Fitzpatrick said he used data golf as a substitute for the OWGR to find out how golfers are ranked since it gave him more useful information than the OWGR did. Fitzpatrick added that the caliber of players on both sides of the field is demonstrated by his decision to stop using the OWGR.
“We’ve known for years that the PGA Tour has a lot of strength and depth, so I think it’s partly a sign that there’s plenty of depth on here, but I definitely think the ranking side of it is a little bit skewed these days,” Fitzpatrick continued.
Fitzpatrick gave an explanation for why he believed the OWGR was no longer relevant, citing the exclusion of some of the top players from the rankings due to their affiliation with LIV Golf. And although he comprehends the reasoning behind it, he does not necessarily concur.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate to exclude these players from the world rankings; after all, who is Dustin Johnson? I’m not even sure,” he went on. How is Brooks Koepka doing? That, in my opinion, is the only problem with the world golf rankings at the moment.”
Fitzpatrick’s remarks coincide with the letter that LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman sent to players announcing that LIV is giving up on OWGR ranking points following a few fruitless attempts. According to Sports Illustrated, Norman’s letter stated, “We have made significant efforts to fight for you and ensure your accomplishments are recognised within the existing ranking system.” Regretfully, OWGR hasn’t demonstrated much of a desire to collaborate with us in a useful way.
The field ratings disproportionately reward play on the PGA Tour, and the rankings are set up to penalize anyone who has not participated in regular play on a “Eligible Tour.”
“The OWGR system is designed in a way that makes it practically impossible for you to regain positions close to the top of the ranking, where so many of you belong, even if LIV Golf events were immediately awarded points.”
With some of the biggest names in the sport – like Jon Rahm and Dustin Johnson – now playing for the Saudi Arabian-backed circuit, it remains to be seen if the OWGR rankings will change their ways to accommodate LIV’s 54-hole, no-cut format. For now, it appears golfers on both sides have it known what their thoughts are on the situation.
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