OWGR committee member wants LIV Golf to have ranking points

Asian Tour commissioner and Official World Golf Ranking technical committee member Cho Minn Thant believes that the LIV Golf Tour should gain ranking points.

Speaking to Bob Harig of Sports Illustrated, Cho admitted that the end of LIV Golf's inaugural season came too soon for world ranking status and the start-up series needs adjustments to meet the criteria.

However, the 38-year-old also believes that OWGR points should be granted to the series which has now entered a strategic alliance with the little-known Dubai-based MENA Tour.

Players such as Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Graeme McDowell have been critical of the OWGR's behaviour towards the new league. The ranking board said they had insufficient notice to grant OWGR points for the Bangkok and Jeddah Invitationals.

Greg Norman's breakaway tour pumped $300 million into the Asian Tour to help the launch of its International Series. Due to its relationship with the LIV Golf Tour, Cho cannot be involved in the application and he discussed the potential issues that the Saudi-backed series faces.

"I’d like to see the OWGR grant LIV world ranking points for next season. This year was probably too soon," Cho said at the Jeddah Invitational.

"The way LIV started it was a work in progress. It still is a work in progress. And at the start of the season they were unsure which players would sign up. This is massively more successful than they envisioned at the start of the year, in my opinion. And highly successful.

"There are things that could be put in place. There’s no cut. Only 54 holes. The system accounts for that. There are going to be things in the world with golf rankings the way they are at the moment that will prevent LIV players from getting super-high world ranking points like the PGA Tour.

"They have 48 players in the field, where every player counts. That’s a big difference from a 156-man field, which is obviously going to get more points. The 54 holes are another way LIV will have reduced points. But the principle of it is they should still get points.

"It was fairly obvious that it wasn’t going to be passed without further examination. That it happened almost overnight the day before their event didn’t help. We all know that the world golf ranking is governed by the powers that be," he added.

"And they don’t make decisions in an instant. I think it was always going to be 'we acknowledge it but we need more time to examine it'."

The MENA Tour is set to incorporate the 2023 schedule of the LIV Golf Series. This tour gained OWGR status in 2016 and it hosts events in the Middle East and North Africa.

According to the OWGR statement released on October 5, there must be a customary necessary review completed before points can be given.