LIV Golf has been trying to receive Official World Golf Ranking points since its inception in 2022.
The question, however, has always been: Does the startup tour deserve them?
Peter Dawson, the former OWGR chairman, says no.
Speaking to the Global Golf Post, the 77-year-old explained why he didn’t feel LIV met the criteria for its tournaments to award world ranking points to players.
“I was very disappointed that we could not do so with LIV,” Dawson said. “It is self-evident that players on the LIV tour are good enough to be ranked because they were before. But OWGR has a duty to ensure that all of the thousands of players in the system are ranked equitably. Some aspects of the LIV format made that impossible. In my opinion, OWGR made the only decision it could at the time.”
The main culprits were that LIV events are only 54 holes, there was a lack of proper relegation and promotion and field sizes are limited to 54 players. Therefore, the OWGR board denied the Saudi-backed circuit’s request for ranking points in 2023. And LIV withdrew its application in 2024.
Dawson, however, left his position as chairman in April and was replaced by Trevor Immelman, a former Masters champion and current CBS golf analyst. LIV, with a few tweaks to its format, particularly a relegation system, then resubmitted an application to the OWGR, which is still under review.
But the same issues that plagued LIV while Dawson was at the helm remain.
“LIV has now reapplied to be included in the OWGR system,” he said. “I want all golf initiatives to do well and I can’t see that LIV has been a success by any measure. Yes, it has given great wealth to a very few people, but in terms of engagement, its format of team golf isn’t resonating anywhere near enough with the fan base.”
LIV’s international arm has reported $1.1. billion in losses in its first three seasons, and the tour’s television audience in the U.S. has been lackluster, despite a deal with Fox Sports that began in ‘25.
Yet, LIV CEO Scott O’Neil, who took over the position at the start of this year, is bullish about the tour’s future.
“I think that LIV Golf will have a dominant position in global golf [and] will be the place you go for global golf,” he said in July.
Dawson, though, doesn’t necessarily echo that same sentiment.
“I really don’t understand why the PIF [Public Investment Fund] and Saudi Arabia are persisting with it,” Dawson said. “They are doing wonderful things for the women’s game with the PIF Global Series and they have terrific plans inside Saudi for expanding golf for their own people and for tourism. These initiatives deserve our applause, but LIV seems to be the odd man out.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Former OWGR Chairman Doesn’t See LIV As ‘a Success By Any Measure’.