{"id":292329,"date":"2023-05-02T22:07:38","date_gmt":"2023-05-02T22:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=292329"},"modified":"2023-05-02T22:59:32","modified_gmt":"2023-05-02T22:59:32","slug":"rigged-deal-blasted-as-rankings-farce-turns-ugly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=292329","title":{"rendered":"'Rigged deal' blasted as rankings farce turns ugly"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \ufefftensions between LIV<\/a> and PGA Tour<\/a> golfers<\/a> may be thawing, but frustrations are growing over the sport's world rankings.<\/p>\n

The \ufeffissue has come to a head this week after the farcical nature of the system was spotlighted by the contrasting fortunes of two players.<\/p>\n

Tony Finau<\/a> won the Mexico Open, and the following day rocketed up the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) list five spots to No.11.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Caddie's crazy payday highlights upside to golf war<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> 'Top level talks' over $800k enigma's club switch\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

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His countryman Talor Gooch also won. His LIV victory in Singapore came a week after his triumph in Adelaide<\/a>, \ufeffthe two outings netting him about $12 million in prizemoney combined.<\/p>\n

But on Monday his world ranking dropped from \ufeffNo.57 to No.60. At the end of last year he was sitting at No.40.<\/p>\n

\"Talor<\/p>\n

Gooch is unable to accrue OWGR points \ufeffsince his defection to the Saudi-backed LIV league.<\/p>\n

Aussie superstar Cameron Smith\ufeff<\/a> reached a career-high No.2 in the world after winning last year's British Open, and has steadily fallen since joining LIV to now be No.8.<\/p>\n

The OWGR board is comprised of representatives from the four majors, as well as the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.<\/p>\n

While a review is in progress, the board has so far refused to recognise the breakaway tour as bona fide. In December, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and DP World Tour chief Keith Pelley recused themselves from the decision over LIV.<\/p>\n

\ufeffThere are serious implications to this, the most pressing being the four golf majors using OWGR to decide who gets to compete. The Olympics will also use the world rankings system to determine who qualifies for Paris 2024.<\/p>\n

\"LIV<\/p>\n

Gooch, for example, will not qualify for the US Open this year if his ranking drops below the top 60 on the OWGR, which now seems a fait accompli.<\/p>\n

\ufeffHe would have been exempt given he finished 29th in the FedEx Cup standings last year, but a change by the USGA robbed him of that exemption given he was not allowed to compete in the playoffs after signing with LIV.<\/p>\n

"That was obviously disappointing because that changed rule only affected one person, which was me," Gooch told the 73rd Hole<\/em> podcast last week.<\/p>\n

"I have only two options to qualify for the US Open – via my world ranking, which is going to be very challenging, or trying to obviously go through the qualifying route of sectional qualifying."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/flushingitgolf\/status\/1652998961857286148?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

The fact LIV players aren't able to accrue points is causing angst and conflict within the game.<\/p>\n

\ufeffTigers Woods' former coach Hank Haney has been vocal on Twitter since Gooch tumbled down the rankings on Monday.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffEven if LIV were to meet the necessary criteria it's still up to the OWGR's discretion if they award points," Haney said.<\/p>\n

"The OWGR is a rigged deal and not close to an accurate reflection of the ranking of the world's best golfers.<\/p>\n

"The majors will have to use a different list."<\/p>\n

\ufeffPhil Mickelson<\/a>, the six-time major champion who has been the face of the LIV rebels, engaged in a Twitter spat with player-turned-television analyst Colt Knost about the issue this week.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffColt, it is not our job. It is the OWGR's job to rank ALL the players in the world," Mickelson said.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/PhilMickelson\/status\/1653021956675862528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

"Maybe they can do their job and figure it out like they do for multiple tours with hundreds of players not even close to as good (as LIV players).<\/p>\n

"But that would hurt the PGA's revenue from CBS so the leaders won't."\ufeff<\/p>\n

Mickelson said he "does not care about" rankings points, given he is exempt for entry to all the majors until at least 2025, but "it's about doing what's right and calling out the collusion that's taking place behind closed doors to help JM (Monahan) get all his TV money".<\/p>\n

While rankings may not matter to 52-year-old Mickelson\ufeff, they are mighty important to most professional golfers.<\/p>\n

Australian Lucas Herbert last week explained to Wide World of Sports the importance of the OWGR.<\/p>\n

\"Lucas<\/p>\n

"Top 50 for us is the biggest one, if I stay in that top 50 that's when you get to play all the biggest events," Herbert said.<\/p>\n

"A lot of our contracts are negotiated around that as well, so from a world ranking point of view that's obviously where you want to be."<\/p>\n

Herbert is a staunch advocate for the established DP World and PGA tours, and has no time for LIV.<\/p>\n

He may, though, have to put those differences aside at next year's Olympics, where – based on world rankings – he is likely to team up\ufeff with Smith to represent Australia.<\/p>\n

"I don't have an issue with it. If they're exempt and they want to play, that's fine by me," Herbert said of LIV players at the Olympics.<\/p>\n

"They knew what they were getting into when they signed up for this situation that they're in, so if any of them have an issue with it I think they've only got themselves to blame. It's not an issue for me at all."\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/em>For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The \ufefftensions between LIV and PGA Tour golfers may be thawing, but frustrations are growing over the sport's world rankings. The \ufeffissue has come to […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":288751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292329"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=292329"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":292333,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292329\/revisions\/292333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/288751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=292329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=292329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=292329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}