Johnson hails Mena tie-up

BANGKOK - Wet weather and thunderstorms have been forecast for the LIV Golf Invitational Bangkok this week, so the scorching 32 deg C heat was much welcome on Thursday as its pro-am participants took to the Stonehill golf course.

One of LIV's top golfers, Dustin Johnson, also took the opportunity to turn the heat on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), a private company which administers and publishes the rankings of players participating in eligible golf tours worldwide.

Among the biggest issues for those who have defected to LIV from the DP World and PGA Tours is their plummeting positions in the world rankings, as LIV has not received OWGR accreditation despite submitting a formal application in mid-July. As such, its players do not collect ranking points to play in the sport's four Majors.

Since joining the breakaway series in June, former world No. 1 Johnson has seen his ranking dip from 15th to 23rd.

On Wednesday, LIV announced a "strategic alliance" with the developmental Mena (Middle East and North Africa) Tour that will see the former's events becoming part of, and sanctioned by, the Dubai-based tour, recognised by the OWGR since 2016.

Speaking after the pro-am, Johnson, 38, said: "We deserve them (ranking points). Obviously with the quality of players we have out here, the events we're having, we should have them.

"It's very smart and strategic the way they're going about it, but hopefully they (OWGR) make the right decision and give us world ranking points."

The American, who has won two Majors, 24 PGA Tour titles and nine on the DP World Tour, continued to turn up the pressure on the OWGR on Thursday. He added: "It's supposed to be a non-biased organisation, so we are playing golf, competing with some of the best golfers in the world, so yes, we should be awarded points. Will they do that? Hopefully. Like I said, I think we deserve them and, hopefully we'll get them."

Atul Khosla, LIV's president and chief operations officer, said it is "taking this mutually beneficial action to support the game at the developmental level and because of the importance and fairness of LIV golfers qualifying for OWGR points".

The OWGR late on Thursday, however, said LIV players will not receive ranking points for the events in Bangkok and Jeddah in October due to insufficient notice and that a decision on whether to award ranking points would only be made following a review.

The issue of ranking points, or LIV Golf's lack of them, has been a sticking point in the sport. In September, all 48 of its players at the Chicago tournament backed a letter to OWGR chairman Peter Dawson urging the organisation to grant it ranking points.

In its letter, it had asked for the results of LIV events to be included retroactively in the ranking as "an OWGR without LIV would be incomplete and inaccurate, the equivalent of… leaving Belgium, Argentina and England out of the Fifa rankings".

The OWGR lists 23 eligible tours on its website, among them the Mena and Asian Tours, which has already sanctioned LIV Golf and sponsored its application for world ranking points. According to British daily The Telegraph, 13 events on the 2023 LIV schedule would be part of the Mena Tour, though no details have been provided on how the ranking points could be attained.

Australian Travis Smyth, who played in three LIV Golf events, had previously tweeted after winning the Yeangder TPC - which is part of the Asian Tour - his criticism of the ranking points allocated, saying: "Is that all I got? What a joke!"

But American Phil Mickelson, who reportedly received US$200 million (S$285.3 million) to play in LIV, remained unfazed.

"I'm not concerned because the number of points are based on the quality of the field and not the organisation that's running the tournament, and the quality of our field is remarkably strong. I'm sure for the world golf rankings to maintain their credibility, they'll continue to award the proper number of points that the tournaments deserve for all tours," he said.

"Given the many obstacles that we have had to face from those trying to stop it, it's a great way to do this in addition to adding in a developmental tour for the Asian Tour who will be our feeding tour going forward. So it's a win on all parts."