Gary McCord predicts the following outcomes for LIV Golf.

Jon Rahm is officially heading to LIV Golf, but there’s a major issue that could see him pull out of the Saudi-sponsored tournament regardless of the circumstances.

PGA Tour veteran and former golf host Gary McCord says earning world ranking points is everything. “At the end of the day, they’re not going to be able to bring in the big players because the big players are out of the majors because they’re not scoring in the world rankings,” GOLF Subpar host Colt Knost McCord said. and Drew Stoltz. This week’s episode.

Rahm was banned for life after winning the Masters last April and, thanks to the win in 2021, is exempt from competing in majors for the next five years until 2032, except for the US Open. That was important for him because last Wednesday the world number three became the tournament’s newest and perhaps best-known signing.

But for other players, such as Talor Gooch, who Knoss said will not qualify for 2023, failing to earn points in the Official World Golf Ranking will be difficult. LIV could no longer officially receive points from OWGR in October. The main reason was the lack of promotion and relegation options in the competition.

But McCord, who spoke to LIV about joining the broadcast team, will eventually see the waves of the world come back together “somehow.”

“This will be a 15-event world tour. Choose from 15 or 20 stories,” McCord said. “It will be at the top. You can add any other round, and if that player leaves the game, a penalty will be applied to bring the player back.

McCord said there will be 75 players on the World Tour, and the bottom 25 players would have to be relegated each season to regain their spot on the circuit. This is similar to the PGA Tour’s designated/signature event model, which exempts the top 50 FedEx Cup players from eight limited signature events next season. However, what is most similar to the LIV Golf model is the team event aspect. According to McCord, there’s a lot of value here. “What [Tiger Woods] is trying to do and what LIV is trying to do is build the team — build equality in the team,” he said. “Then you buy the team, you buy the merchandise, you buy all that stuff. The Ryder Cup showed us clearly what we need to do.

“Let’s look at the economy. When you build a team, you build equity in the team and invite people to come and buy shares in that team. Then there is an input flow of those orders through the process. This is huge. Wherever we go with this, it will be the pinnacle of foreign revenue.

Of course, the actual future of LIV Golf, the PGA Tour and possibly the Global Tour has become a little more bleak since Rahm signed with LIV. The Tour and LIV Finance, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, are under pressure to complete the framework agreement announced on June 6 to merge their commercial golf businesses later this month.