LIV Golf has officially applied for Official World Golf Rankings points once more

It would appear that LIV Golf has no intentions of going anywhere.

The tour is in its third year of operation and is running on all sorts of successes these days. At the time of this writing they are in play in Spain and being televised domestically on FS1, securing a television contract of that variety was just one challenge that they faced as they were getting off of the ground a few years ago.

LIV has different details than the PGA Tour and the ultimate takeaway from my perspective is that this is okay. Playing 54 holes, having teams, deploying a shotgun start... different is not necessarily. Different is just that, different.

Ultimately these “differences” have seemingly disallowed LIV from achieving something that they have long sought... official standing within the Official World Golf Ranking. OWGR is the point system that determines how players are generally ranked across the globe. These rankings have long served as the formula for invitations to major championships and things of the like so LIV not having them has seen their players fall dramatically and have to find alternative paths into those types of events.

It appears that LIV is once again trying to establish an OWGR presence as the entity announced on Friday that LIV has applied once more.

Inclusion for LIV in the OWGR would, quite frankly, be one of the biggest things to ever happen in the world of men’s professional golf. Establishing OWGR points for LIV would offer points for players on the tour and therefore legitimize it in a way that has yet to have happened since this whole saga began. We are past the point of people using OWGR for conversational purposes (consider that for example Jon Rahm is listed at 68 and there is no “world” where this is the case), but in practical matters they serve as the line in the sand.

Back to the point that we began this conversation with... this also suggests that LIV isn’t going anywhere. Word of a pending merger broke over a year ago now, but the details of that remain as unknown as they were then. One would assume that if a merger were on the horizon that LIV would not feel the need to go this route. Perhaps it is part of a merger. Who knows at this point.

Whatever the case... this stands to be another twist in professional golf. Time will tell.

LIV Golf Ceo Scott O’Neil released a statement on the league’s application.

“We thank OWGR Chairman Trevor Immelman for his continued leadership and willingness to move the sport of golf forward for the benefit of all players and most importantly, the fans. LIV Golf is committed to working together with the Official World Golf Ranking and its board to ensure the very best players are competing in the game’s most prestigious events. We are confident our application addresses the outstanding questions that exist to support a more global, all-encompassing, and accurate ranking system. We are hopeful the review and approval process can progress ahead of the 2026 major season.”

We will see what happens next.