Thanks to his victory at the Australian Open, and two other top-five finishes on the DP World Tour, Augusta National extended an invitation to Joaquin Niemann to compete in this year’s Masters Tournament.
LIV Golf’s Joaquin Niemann blasts OWGR, majors amid Masters invitation
Joaquin Niemann spoke candidly about the difficulties LIV golfers face when trying to qualify for the majors.
Jack Milko has been playing golf since he was five years old. He has yet to record a hole-in-one, but he did secure an M.A. in Sports Journalism from St. Bonaventure University.
And yet, when the Green Jackets announced Niemann’s entry into this year’s tournament, they failed to mention LIV Golf or any of the Chileans’ accomplishments on the Saudi-backed circuit.
Still, to Niemann’s dismay, LIV Golf events do not receive Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points.
“It’s useful to get world ranking, but it sucks that I’m too far away to get into all the majors,” Niemann said to Bunkered.co, an English golf outlet.
“It’s frustrating. It got a little bit tastier getting that invite from the Masters because one of my goals was trying to get into the first major because the U.S. Open you can get in. You can qualify. That still sucks to do that, though, but I do have a chance to get in.”
The PGA Championship typically invites the top 100 players ranked in the OWGR. Meanwhile, The Open Championship invites the top 50.
But the R&A, the governing body that facilitates The Open, already extended an invitation to Niemann thanks to his win in Sydney two months ago.
The OWGR has Niemann ranked as the 81st-ranked player in the world, while DataGolf has him as the 22nd.
Many players, pundits, and fans alike have turned to DataGolf, a formula predicated on strokes gained and advanced metrics, as a more accurate ranking system.
“At the end of the day, the majors are supposed to host the best players in the world,” Niemann added.
“Everybody knows who they are. Taking out the Official World Golf Ranking—which I think is not really a ranking—you can figure out who they are easily.”
Niemann relayed these messages from Oman, where numerous LIV golfers are competing in the Asian Tour’s International Series Oman event.
Louis Oosthuizen and Carlos Ortiz, two other LIV players, hold a share of the 54-hole lead at 12-under. Sitting three strokes behind them lies Niemann, who carded a 4-under 68 on Saturday.
Five players from LIV Golf comprise the top 10 as the circuit prepares to shift to Saudi Arabia for its third event of the 2024 season next week.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
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