LIV Golf stars forced to look elsewhere for major spots after Greg Norman slams world rankings

A number of LIV Golf stars have opted to turn to the Asian Tour’s International Series this week in a bid to earn some all-important world ranking points with the majors looming.

Despite their rapid rise, one kink that remains in the armour of the breakaway league is its lack of Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) recognition. This has seen LIV events go ahead without the awarding of world ranking points, which has resulted in the majority of its membership falling down the ranking list.

With the OWGR list making up a large share of the major fields for the season, the Saudi-backed league’s representation at the flagship events is set to be limited, amid their wait for ranking authorisation.

LIV CEO Norman has been a critic of the ranking system over the past two years, and reignited his feud with the OWGR on Monday after describing the system as ‘laughable’ amid the lack of the league’s representation in the world’s top-50 players. In a bid to gain some movement in the right direction, 20 LIV members have entered this week’s International Series Oman in conjunction with the breakaway league’s partnership with the Asian Tour.

Included is one of LIV’s most in-form players in recently crowned Mayakoba champion Joaquin Niemann. He made the Saudi switch whilst ranked inside the top-20 players in the world, but now finds himself 81st in the ranking list.

This is not the first time the Chilean has opted to play his golf elsewhere in a bid to earn some much-needed OWGR points, after teeing it up on the DP World Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia throughout December and January. This proved to be a worthy decision too, as Niemann was crowned Australian Open champion at the end of last year by defeating Rikuya Hoshino in a playoff.

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Joaquin Niemann will tee it up in Oman this week

Not only did the Torque GC star jump in the world rankings, but he also earned a spot at this summer’s Open Championship at Royal Troon. He then went on to turn his attention to the DP World Tour’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic, where he put in another impressive showing, finishing in a tie for fourth.

Speaking at the time, the Chilean admitted he has decided to venture elsewhere when the LIV schedule suits in a bid to battle into the world’s top-50 and earn a spot at April’s Masters. He told Mirror Sport in January: “It is pretty unfair right now what the world rankings shows. It says the top 100 players in the world right now, but I don’t think this is the right ranking…

“I am going to Dubai for the DP World [Tour] just because of [ranking] points, and to try and get into the Masters… Right now it is all about the best players and right now I think I am one of those, I have got to be in those majors.

“Obviously I took the decision to come to LIV and I knew it was going to be hard to get into the majors because of it, but I think now they have to find a way to get us in, that is why I am trying to play more tournaments than just LIV Golf.”

One man also teeing it up in Oman is another LIV member who has just earned his Open spot – David Puig. The Spanish star and teammate of Sergio Garcia will compete on the Asian Tour for the second time in as many weeks, after teeing it up at the Malaysian Open last week.

Like Niemann it proved to be a successful trip away, after being crowned champion in Malaysia and securing his own place in the field at Royal Troon in July. Puig opted to turn professional in September 2022 to join the LIV setup and has won twice on his last five starts on the Asian Tour.