Cameron Smith’s Olympics concerns as LIV Golf’s bid for global rankings recognition rejected
Golf’s global rankings body has rejected LIV Golf’s bid to be recognised – and it is set to become a major issue for Australian golf star Cameron Smith.
Cameron Smith’s Australian summer has become crucial for his Olympic campaign after LIV Golf failed in its bid to gain world rankings points, leaving his hopes of representing his country hinging on a handful of tournaments.
Smith would be an automatic selection for Australia at his current world ranking of 15 but faces a significant loss of rankings points in coming months, heaping pressure on him to perform on home soil and in the majors early next year.
The decision by the world ranking committee to reject LIV Golf’s bid for ranking points – confirmed in a letter sent on Tuesday night from rankings chair Peter Dawson to LIV commissioner Greg Norman – is a body blow to players on the rebel tour.
Smith has as much to lose as anyone. In an exclusive interview with this masthead last month, Smith spoke about his desire to represent his country in Paris and admitted he had contemplated the prospect of a rankings free-fall.
Those fears are now a reality.
“I am pretty conscious of it,” Smith said.
“I had a pretty good major season. It would have been interesting to see – well it wouldn’t have been interesting to see, it would have been terrible – how far you would go back if you didn’t have a couple of good finishes in majors.
“It (The Olympics) is definitely in the back of my mind and something I want to do again. I loved it last time. There is nothing like wearing the coat of arms.”
Smith now needs to aim up on the big stage or risk missing the Olympic cut. The concern for the former world No. 1 is that the world rankings are calculated over a rolling two-year period and two of his biggest wins are destined to drop off his resume early next year.
Smith’s victories at the Tournament of Champions and The Players Championship in 2022 will both be scratched from his rankings record prior to the Olympic cut-off date, as will his third-placed finish at the Masters.
His win at The Open will also be largely negligible by Olympic cut-off time because rankings points dissolve over time. The other issue for Smith is that while he faces a loss of ranking points, PGA Tour-affiliated compatriots Jason Day, Adam Scott, Cameron Davis and Min Woo Lee can continue to climb the rankings.
All are currently in the top 50 in the world. Under the Olympic qualifying format, the world’s top 15 players are automatic selections. After that, a maximum of two athletes from each country are eligible for selection.
While performance in Australia and at the majors will be crucial for Smith, his other hope may be in the proposed merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. Talks are ongoing but latest speculation suggests any agreement would likely not come into effect until 2025.
Smith could yet secure the $28m bonus prize which is up for grabs at LIV’s season-ending event in Jeddah this week.
Interestingly, Dawson revealed that the decision to reject LIV’s application came after consultation with the technical committee, which includes PGA Tour of Australasia tournament director Nick Dastey.
LIV Golf responded to the news with a statement in which they condemned the decision.
“A ranking which fails to fairly represent all participants, irrespective of where in the world they play golf, robs fans, players and all of golf’s stakeholders of the objective basis underpinning any accurate recognition of the world’s best player performances,” the statement said.
“It also robs some traditional tournaments of the best fields possible. Professional golf is now without a true or global scoring and ranking system. “There is no benefit for fans or players from the lack of trust or clarity as long as the best player performances are not recognised.”
LIV BLINDSIDED BY GOLF RANKING RULING
LIV Golf’s bid to be recognised by the sport’s global rankings body has been rejected, a US media report said Tuesday.
The Global Golf Post website reported that Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) had turned down LIV’s request due to the circuit’s 54-hole no-cut format and limited access for players to join the venture.
The report said OWGR president Peter Dawson had informed LIV chief executive Greg Norman of the decision in a letter sent on Tuesday.
“The Board Committee met recently to again review your OWGR submission in light of your latest responses to the Committee’s questions and concerns,” Dawson wrote in the letter.
“At the meeting, the Board Committee unanimously determined that at this time the LIV Tour will not be recognised as an Eligible Golf Tour in the OWGR system.” The issue of whether LIV players should be granted rankings points has been a thorny subject of debate since the lavishly funded Saudi Arabia-backed circuit plunged golf into an acrimonious civil war last year.
Rankings points were seen as a crucial step in LIV’s developments, giving its players the chance to secure qualification for major championships.
Dawson told Global Golf Post that OWGR’s decision was not aimed at punishing players who had joined LIV.
“This is entirely technical. OWGR has no hostility toward LIV whatsoever,” Dawson was quoted as saying.
“The important point is, this is not about the players. LIV players are self-evidently good enough to be ranked; there is no doubt about that.
“This is about, should a tour whose formats are so different and whose qualification criteria are so different, can they be ranked equitably with other tours who conform to the OWGR norm and have more competition to them than perhaps the closed shop that is LIV?” LIV chief Norman had argued forcefully for his circuit’s events to be given ranking status, saying that without it “the integrity and accuracy of the rankings themselves are severely compromised.” The PGA Tour stunned world golf in June after announcing a shock agreement with the LIV’s Saudi paymasters aimed at ending the sport’s two-year civil war.
However firm details of how the “new collectively owned, for-profit entity” that will see the PGA Tour, Europe’s DP World Tour and LIV Golf merge have yet to be divulged.
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