Greg Norman was left furious after Tiger Woods mocked the LIV Golf issue.
After a period of absence from the PGA Tour, Tiger Woods made an impressive climb in the world rankings upon his comeback at the Hero World Challenge.
LIV Golf expressed frustration at their exclusion from the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), while Tiger Woods made optimal use of the system during the 2023 season.
Due to an ankle problem, Woods was withdrawn from last year’s Masters and only participated in three events during the season. He completed just two of them as he had been sidelined for more than seven months due to his injury. It wasn’t until November when he made a returning appearance at the Hero World Challenge competition.
After a prolonged absence from the PGA Tour, he plummeted to his lowest-ever world ranking and arrived in Bahamas last year ranked below 1,200th among all golfers globally.
When he came back, it was no surprise that his game still had some rust. He competed against a group of the most impressive players on earth and ended up coming in 18th out of 20 at the Hero tournament. Despite not performing as well as hoped, Woods received an enormous boost to his world rankings nonetheless.
Thanks to the valuable ranking points awarded at the restricted PGA Tour event, Woods’ 18th place achievement resulted in an extraordinary climb of 430 positions on the list. This impressive rise saw him once again secure a spot amongst the top 900 players. With LIV Golf’s recognition by OWGR still pending, this advancement came at a crucial juncture for his standing in rankings.
Even though the breakaway league boasts some of the most exceptional athletes in their fields, they are incapable of providing world ranking points to participants. As a result, renowned players such as Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau have witnessed deteriorations with respect to their rankings. Shortly following LIV’s latest OWGR request being denied, Woods’ extraordinary ascendency occurred approximately one month later.
Last October, the decision left LIV bosses angry and they responded with a harsh statement criticizing the validity of the rankings. Their scathing words questioned OWGR’s ability to accurately assess top players worldwide: “The sole purpose of OWGR is to rank global player performance; today’s announcement indicates that this goal cannot be met anymore.”
The absence of a genuine and all-encompassing scoring and ranking mechanism has left professional golf in disarray. With no clear-cut advantages for either enthusiasts or participants due to the widespread mistrust, it is imperative that outstanding player accomplishments receive their rightful recognition. Recently, LIV CEO Greg Norman resurrected his quarrel with OWGR.
Norman vented on social media about LIV’s low representation in the top-50 world players, noting only five made the cut. He pointed out that three of these were recent signings Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, and Adrian Meronk. Highlighting ongoing neglect towards LIV as laughable yet again, Norman criticized ranking lists during his heated rant.
