The upstart LIV Golf Invitational Series has, without a doubt, been building a head of steam, incorporating new players (many with the credentials of great champions), generating publicity and, apparently, gaining ground in their bid for legitimacy.
But as gold rains on the select some that populate the LIV Golf list, a cloud of uncertainty continues to hang over the fledgling company led by Greg Norman and generously funded by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, and could cloud its prospects for future viability for years. For all the billions at their disposal, LIV Golf cannot buy the most basic and necessary authentication in professional men’s golf.
Without being able to offer points towards the official world golf ranking, the LIV Golf series will continue to be an outlier on the world golf stage, one that can provide its players with a future of financial wealth in exchange for, at first glance, what would seem be less and less opportunities in the main events of the game. Not surprisingly, then, the upstart circuit submitted an accreditation application to the OWGR board on July 6, submitted through sponsorship of the Asian Tour. Peter Dawson, President of the OWGR, acknowledged receiving it after the board met during the Open Championship in St. Andrews, stating that “a review of the application will commence.”
However, it would appear that in its current form, LIV Golf does not possess the necessary organizational components to be approved. Golf Digest has obtained information that identifies several parameters that must be met for approval, several of which LIV Golf appears not to meet if your application to the OWGR reflects its current rules and governance. The following required items appear to be missing:
1. Commitment to the inclusion and promotion of non-discriminatory practices.
2. Competitions played over 72 holes, except development tours (such as the Abema TV Tour, the Alps Golf Tour or the EuroPro Tour, among others), which can be 54-hole events.
3. An annual open qualifying school held before the start of each season.
4. An average field size of 75 players over the course of a season.
5. A 36-hole cut, playing either 54 or 72 holes.
6. A clear opportunity to progress to a full member tour, that is, one of the six members of the International Federation of PGA Tours.
7. Reasonable access for local and regional players (ie Monday qualifiers) at each of their tournaments.
Additionally, LIV Golf does not meet the requirement for a minimum 10-event schedule, although it should next year. with his plan of 14 tournaments. This bit of myopia early on is significant because a prospective tour must meet OWGR guidelines for at least one year immediately prior to listing. So even if it were somehow sped up for approval, OWGR guidelines suggest the earliest date points could be distributed would not start until 2024.
Typically, the OWGR approval process can take one to two years. The application is first reviewed by OWGR’s 10-person technical committee, which would work with the applicant to resolve points of contention. Consideration is then taken by the seven-member governing board which is made up of representatives from the four major championships, the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, and a representative from Federation Tours (Asian Tour, Australasian Tour, Japan Golf Tour, Sunshine Route). Norman has spoken out suggesting that representatives from the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and other organizations represented on the board who have expressed reservations about LIV Golf should abstain from voting.
LIV Golf meets, or is expected to meet, some of the requirements, including playing by the Rules of Golf, and offers an average minimum purse of $30,000 (yes you have that covered), have a player committee, as well as tournament eligibility criteria, and meet various administrative needs, such as timely notification of accurate player data.
LIV Golf officials might well respond to your list of shortcomings by citing a few exceptions that exist on the PGA Tour schedule. The PGA Tour hosts five uncut tournaments, two of which, the Sentry Tournament of Champions and the Tour Championship, are well under 75 players. But the tour has 37 full field court tournaments, and those tournaments feed into the uncourt events.
Then there’s the 20-player Hero World Challenge, hosted by Tiger Woods, which also awards OWGR points, but didn’t until he changed his field eligibility system.
The fact that these exceptions are unique or apply to a course that meets all other criteria in no way translates into an endorsement by LIV Golf, which in its entirety would be applying for certification with all of these exceptions.
Some of the above points require a more detailed explanation.
It is unclear whether LIV Golf can be considered an entity that promotes non-discriminatory practices, which is the first item on the OWGR list of criteria. His series might embrace the philosophy, but it’s safe to say that Saudi Arabia, the source of his funding, doesn’t. LIV Golf’s “descent plan” it apparently intends to remedy the third element, a classification system. But it’s hardly an open system when some players are exempt from the process. Item #6 is also very strict, because the Asian Tour is LIV Golf’s sponsor for OWGR, the de facto lead partner in their relationship. And yet, LIV Golf is not part of the Asian Tour; it is configured exactly backwards.
LIV Golf players have discussed the possibility could look to supplement their world ranking points by playing Asian Tour events, but the idea has far less merit now that a reconfiguration of OWGR’s point distribution metric begins starting next week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship. The new system which has been several years in the making, will no longer award the minimum first place points to tournaments with weak fields; each event stands on its own. Thus, the minimum of 14 points for the winner of the Asian Tour disappears, and his events will not be as lucrative on the OWGR scale. Adding LIV players who are plummeting down the rankings during a lengthy application process will not improve the strength of the field appreciably, a vicious spiral of diminishing returns.
If LIV Golf were to make the necessary modifications, a trial period of at least three years would follow, per OWGR procedures. And at that time, LIV Golf could not go back to its original scheme once accepted or it would lose OWGR accreditation.
The bottom line is that LIV Golf will have to significantly change its organizational model if it hopes to get the good housekeeping stamp of approval from OWGR listing. Can it exist without the OWGR? Access to an estimated $620 billion war chest suggests that it can. But what would be the point? With your request of July 6, LIV Golf has already provided the answer.