LIV Golf events granted world ranking points for 2026 season

The move was announced in a statement issued by the Governing Board of the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) on Tuesday evening.

In responding to the move, however, LIV Golf said it was unhappy about the decision to only award points for top-ten finishes and called for a system that “treats players equally”.

The OWGR statement read: “After conducting an exhaustive and collaborative process, and in an effort to reflect the changing landscape of the men’s professional game, the OWGR Board has made the decision to award world ranking points to LIV Golf events for the 2026 season.

“Ranking points will be allocated to the top-10 finishers (and ties) in LIV Golf’s individual stroke play events, which recognises there are a number of areas where LIV Golf does not meet the eligibility standards set out by OWGR.

“LIV Golf events will be ranked based on OWGR’s standard classification of ‘Small Field Tournaments’ with a ‘Ranking points distribution cutoff’ applied to award points to players who finish in the top 10 (and ties). Players who finish lower than 10th will not receive OWGR points and those points will not be redistributed to the players finishing 10th or higher.”

The statement continued: “The Board’s overriding aim was to identify an equitable way of ranking the best men’s players in the world, including the top performing players in LIV Golf, while taking account of the eligibility standards that LIV Golf does not currently meet and the fact that it operates differently from other ranked tours in a number of respects.

“This includes LIV Golf’s average field size of 57 for 2026 versus the minimum of 75 set out in OWGR Regulations; exclusively no-cut events; the restrictive pathways to join LIV Golf with two spots filled from the Asian Tour’s International Series and three from a “closed” promotions event which does not offset the turnover of players exiting the league; self-selection of players with players being recruited rather than earning their place on the tour in many cases and, in recent days, the addition/removal of players to/from teams based on their nationality rather than for meritocratic reasons.”

Timely boost for breakaway circuit

The decision is a timely boost for the breakaway circuit ahead of the season-opener in Riyadh after two of its star players, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed, ended their stints as LIV players.

Commenting on the decision, OWGR chairman Trevor Immelman said: “This has been an incredibly complex and challenging process and one which we have devoted a huge amount of time and energy to resolving in the seven months since LIV Golf submitted their application.

“We fully recognised the need to rank the top men’s players in the world but at the same time had to find a way of doing so that was equitable to the thousands of other players competing on other tours that operate with established meritocratic pathways.

“We believe we have found a solution that achieves these twin aims and enables the best-performing players at LIV Golf events to receive OWGR points.

“I would like to acknowledge the substantial and constructive efforts made by Scott O’Neil and the team at LIV Golf. We look forward to working with them on implementing this approach with immediate effect for the 2026 LIV Golf season.”

LIV Golf issued a statement in response and it claimed that more than just top-ten finishes should be recognised.

The statement read: “The stated mission of the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) is to “administer and publish a transparent, credible, and accurate ranking based on the relative performances of players participating in male Eligible Golf Tours worldwide.

”We acknowledge this long‑overdue moment of recognition, which affirms the fundamental principle that performance on the course should matter, regardless of where the competition takes place.However, this outcome is unprecedented.

“Under these rules, a player finishing 11th in a LIV Golf event is treated the same as a player finishing 57th. Limiting points to only the top 10 finishers disproportionately harms players who consistently perform at a high level but finish just outside that threshold, as well as emerging talent working to establish themselves on the world stage—precisely the players a fair and meritocratic ranking system is designed to recognize.

‘Players deserve a system that treats them equally’

“No other competitive tour or league in OWGR history has been subjected to such a restriction. We expect this is merely a first step toward a structure that fully and fairly serves the players, the fans, and the future of the sport.

“We entered this process in good faith and will continue to advocate for a ranking system that reflects performance over affiliation. The game deserves transparency. The fans deserve credibility. And the players deserve a system that treats them equally.”