EXCLUSIVE: Greg Norman says LIV Golf players “deserve” OWGR points – and Jon Rahm agrees

Greg Norman has an unlikely ally in LIV Golf's battle for OWGR status.

As LIV Golf’s battle to get OWGR recognition continues, Greg Norman has an unlikely backer in the form of Jon Rahm…

World number five Jon Rahm has repeatedly quashed rumours that he is going to join golf’s breakaway league, the LIV Golf tour.

“To be honest, part of the format is not really appealing to me,” Rahm said, earlier this year. “Shotgun start, three days, no cut – to me is not a golf tournament. It’s that simple. I want to play against the best in the world in a format that’s been going on for hundreds of years. That’s what I want to see.”

But that doesn’t mean Rahm is devoutly anti-LIV. On the contrary, the 28-year-old is grateful for the way LIV’s emergence has changed professional golf, particularly on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.

“We should be thankful that LIV happened,” he said, referencing the PGA Tour’s response to LIV, which includes a revamped schedule and greatly increased prize funds.  

“I don’t know if those changes would have happened if LIV wasn’t in the picture. So, to an extent, we should be thankful. I don’t think it’s a bad thing.”

Rahm also expressed his hopes that the tensions between LIV and golf’s traditional tours can be pacified, helping them coexist.

“I just hope the negative feel that this whole thing has – the animosity – goes away. I don’t think there needs to be a lawsuit. I don’t think each side needs to be saying anything negative about each other. If you want to try to coexist, coexist.”

One of the biggest hurdles still to be overcome is the issue of World Ranking points. If LIV Golf players aren’t eligible for them, their world rankings will fall, which impacts their qualification for majors. But whether LIV tournaments with their 54-hole, no-cut format, and limited field warrant OWGR points is a contentious point.

“I think a lot of people are against them having World Ranking points; I’m not necessarily against it, but there should be adjustments,” said Rahm. “If your requirement is to have 72 holes and a cut, maybe you don’t award them 100 percent of the points, since they are not fulfilling all of the requirements.

“If there’s some requirements and it’s only 54 holes and you don’t have a cut, maybe you award them 75 percent of them, I don’t know. They do have some incredible players. To say that Dustin [Johnson] wasn’t one of the best players this year would be a mistake. So I think they could be awarded. I just don’t know how we could work it out. I don’t know if they necessarily deserve 100 percent.”

But Rahm also believes LIV Golf should be patient in its demands for OWGR recognition.

“It’s probably a couple-year process, so they need to respect that as every other tour has,” he said.

While there is clearly still a lot to be settled around LIV Golf, 2021 US Open champion Rahm thinks this year will prove to be a positive one for the game of golf.  

“I don’t think it was a bad year for golf,” he said. “Yes, there’s certain division, but I think we’re moving forward. I think the fans are getting, however you want to look at it, on one side or the other, you’re getting a different product. Change can always be exciting.”

Those words were music to the ears of LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, who spoke to Today’s Golfer in an exclusive interview.

“He’s 100 percent right,” said Norman. “LIV has been the leader in 2022. Everything that has happened on the PGA Tour is because they’ve reacted to what LIV has done. That’s pure and simple. It is factual. You can always go through sequentially and see what’s happened so Jon Rahm is 100 percent right. And God bless him for his honesty. You know, he’s got friendships on both sides of the ledger. And he wants everybody to understand that competition is a wonderful thing for everybody.

“At the end of the day, the players on the PGA Tour should thank LIV, to a degree, for what we did to open up the pocket books and dive into the reserves of the PGA Tour. I feel sorry for the PGA Tour players from a couple of years earlier, from five years earlier. Where was this money? Sitting in the coffers. It should have been used for the players, which is their tour. It’s their money. There’s a lot of questions you can sit back and ask, and Jon Rahm is making the right statement. I completely applaud him.”

Whilst Norman is in ongoing conversations with the Official World Golf Rankings, he insists securing ranking points isn’t a ‘make or break’ point for the future of LIV and its ability to attract players.

“No, not at all. Quite honestly, we deserve to be within the OWGR system. We’ve exposed the weaknesses of the OWGR system because of the strength of our field right now. And because our players don’t have OWGR points, how detrimental is this to other tournaments, like the majors? The people want to see the best players play. People want to see the best competition. And competition is the best thing for your life, for my life, for golf, for business, for anything.

“These players deserve OGWR points and it shows you the weakness of what OWGR is. At the end of the day, we’ll keep doing the right things. We’ve applied for OWGR. As a matter of fact, I just got an email from them today.”

Norman declined to share the contents of that email, saying “I’ve just given you enough information,” with a smile.

As its stands, LIV events don’t receive world ranking points, their players are suspended from the PGA Tour, cannot play in the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup, and question marks remain over their eligibility for the Majors. But Norman insists LIV has no plans to change its format or add a cut in order to qualify for OWGR status and reaffirmed his belief that they have already “checked the box of the technical committees”.

It may be that LIV, having secured so many of the world’s best players, has to some extent secured the upper hand when it comes to the issue of OWGR qualification. Nobody wants to see the majors and the Ryder Cup taking part without many of the world’s best players, which puts pressure on OWGR to find a way to ensure the likes of Dustin Johnson and Cameron Smith, among others, maintain a world ranking that reflects their ability, thus securing them entry to the game’s biggest events.

“The majors, the Ryder Cup, and the Presidents Cup should be Switzerland” said Norman. “They really should, for the betterment of their production and sponsors. They need the best players in the world in those events, and I would hope they sit back in their annual meetings and realise that. The R&A have, and I compliment Martin Slumbers for coming out as early as he did. What I know is that our players deserve to be in it. If they’ve qualified, they deserve to play.”

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