Liv Golf again applied to rejoin the official World Golf Rankings without showing how it behaves differently from when the first application was rejected nearly two years ago.
OWGR received the application in a statement Friday and said it has launched a review process to determine whether it will include a league of 54-player Saudi-funded players.
“The OWGR Committee is committed to a thorough evaluation process for all applications, and LIV applications will be reviewed in accordance with OWGR standards to ensure fairness, integrity and consistency,” OWGR said in a statement.
The OWGR Committee will hold its annual general meeting next week.
OWGR rejected the first application (the first year of the league) in October 2023. This said that in addition to individual competitions that could be compromised by scores counted in team results, LIV golf is not quite able to measure its LIV golf on 20 other tours around the world.
Liv currently has 54 players (13 four-person teams and 2 wild cards) and maintains the roster throughout the season, with the exception of the replacement used in case of injury.
Other tours have different forms of qualifying that allow for field changes between larger memberships. Liv launched a “promotion” event offering three spots at the end of 2023, but was cut to one location last year. The leader of the Asia Tour International Series has earned a spot in LIV if he is not yet a member.
World ranking points are considered important to LIV as four measures (all with seats on the OWGR board) help to determine the field using rankings. This year’s US Open Open has added the category for top LIV performers. The Masters and PGA Championships use invitations at their discretion to get the person they think is right for.
Liv, who once attempted to earn ranking points by taking part in the MENA tour in Africa, officially rescinded its first application in May 2024.
Scott O’Neill replaced Greg Norman as CEO of the Southieg League. He met with Masters’ new OWGR Chairman Trevor Immelman this year, and told The Associated Press that he spoke with O’Neil several times over the phone.
Immelman said the letter of refusal sent to LIV in October 2023 was “very clear” in the position held by the board at the time, and that changes would begin with the new application of LIV.
“We appreciate the interest of Liv Golf and all tours in contributing to the global landscape of male professional golf through OWGR,” the statement said.
