Cameron Smith and Dustin Johnson tear into OWGR decision: "Ridiculous!"
Former Open champion Cameron Smith has offered his thoughts after the rival LIV Golf League were denied OWGR accreditation.
Cameron Smith says the decision not to award LIV Golf players world ranking points is 'ridiculous'.
Smith, who jumped to LIV Golf for more than $100m after winning the 150th Open, claimed golf's world rankings are now 'almost obsolete'.
The Australian was speaking before the rival league's $25m stop in Jeddah.
"We've got some guys out here who are playing some of the best golf in the world and they're outside the top 100, 200 in the world," Smith told reporters in Saudi Arabia. "It's pretty ridiculous."
Smith was alluding to the fact LIV now have multiple major champions on their roster plus some players in fine form.
Talor Gooch has won three events on the rival league and Bryson DeChambeau has also picked up two victories in LIV's second campaign.
Despite their performances they were both overlooked for the 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup side and face the prospect of ultimately being frozen out of the major championships entirely in the future.
DeChambeau was once as high as World No.4 but is now ranked 132nd. Gooch is 187th and Smith has slipped to 15th.
The Open, U.S. Open and Masters use world rankings to determine their fields. The PGA Championship is the only major that does not explicitly grant entry to the top 50 players in the OWGR, although special exemptions are commonly given to players in the top 100.
OWGR chairman Peter Dawson penned a letter to Greg Norman and LIV's chief operating officer on 10 October informing them the league had lost their bid for accreditation.
Dawson said the main concern was the team format can influence individual competitions, there is limited access to the tour and players are tied down to multi-year contracts.
The decision has been met with anger by those associated with LIV.
DeChambeau has called for the top 12 on the money list at the end of each LIV campaign to be offered spots in the majors.
Whereas Phil Mickelson engaged in a fiery debate on X with a truly wild claim.
It wasn't just Smith who tore into the decision.
Dustin Johnson told reporters: "I feel like you can't really use the world ranking system any more.
"[It is] hard to use the world ranking system if you're excluding 48 guys that are good players. The rankings are skewed."
Added Patrick Reed: "Until the actual world ranking reflects the actual top players in the world, then to me it's just kind of a broken system… Just because we play on a different tour, it shouldn't matter."
Read more:
- LIV Golf hits back at OWGR with statement after being shunned ranking points
- Bryson DeChambeau calls for Top 12 LIV Golfers to qualify for all of the majors
- Brooks Koepka has three-word response to Justin Thomas after Shipnuck book claim
- LIV Golf stars Brooks Koepka and Graeme McDowell have bought a racehorse
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