LIV Golf has hit out at what it calls an "unprecedented" ruling that will see only the top 10 finishers at its events awarded world ranking points.
The Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) board revealed on Tuesday its decision to award LIV players points for the first time.
However, while the Saudi Arabia-funded circuit, which starts its fifth season in Riyadh this week, has called the news a "long-overdue moment of recognition", it is unhappy at the limits put on the rankings points for its 57-man fields.
In all 24 other men's professional golf tours that are part of the OWGR, all players who make the cut earn points.
In a statement, LIV said "this outcome is unprecedented", adding "no other competitive tour or league in OWGR history has been subjected to such a restriction".
"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."
In its statement, the OWGR board said it was awarding points to LIV "in an effort to reflect the changing landscape of the men's professional game".
However, it added that the points were being restricted to the top 10 finishers because it "recognises there are a number of areas where LIV Golf does not meet the eligibility standards set out by OWGR".
'OWGR will continue to evaluate'
OWGR wrote in detail about its reasons for only awarding the top 10 players with ranking points: "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."
OWGR acknowledged that LIV is evolving though, with each of its 14 events in 2026 being played over 72 holes, up from 54 in previous years and that the circuit is "planning further changes for the 2027 season which OWGR will continue to evaluate".
"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," added LIV in its statement.
"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."
'A challenging process'
Trevor Immelman, the 2008 Masters champion and chairman of OWGR said the seven months since LIV last applied for ranking points had been "an incredibly complex and challenging process".
He added: "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."
The winner of this week's opening event of the LIV Golf season is projected to receive 23.03 OWGR points, which is similar to European DP World Tour events (25).
The victor at this week's PGA Tour event - the WM Phoenix Open - is expected to receive 59 points.
The winner of a PGA Tour signature event earns 66 points, while the FedEx Cup play-off events at the end of the season - with reduced fields and no cuts - will see 37 points awarded to the winner.
The points on offer to LIV golfers means players will need a sustained run of top finishes to make any meaningful move up the world rankings.
OWGR points are important to players because they are crucial in qualifying for the annual four majors. The rankings are worked out via a two-year rolling system with more weight given to the most recent results.
England's Tyrrell Hatton and American Bryson DeChambeau are, at 22nd and 33rd respectively, the only LIV players in the world's top 50, with five others among the top 100, including Jon Rahm at 97th.
Two-time US Open champion DeChambeau, and US Open and Masters winner Rahm have exemptions to continue playing for the sport's biggest prizes.
In recent weeks, five-times major winner Brooks Koepka and 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed have been two of the biggest stars to leave LIV in favour of a return to the PGA Tour.
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