RAHM SLAMS WORLD RANKINGS

                                                                         By NEVILLE IDOUR

Jon Rahm has not minced his words according to Andrew Wright in Golf Monthly. He has described the latest Official World Golf Rankings changes to “strength of field calculations” as laughable. Recent evidence of the alarming differences between points earned on the PGA Tour and all other tours proves Rahm to be spot on.

Sadly if the changes weren’t so serious in their repercussions they would indeed be laughable. The result is the dominance of the PGA Tour as “the tour” has been further increased. With PGA Tour CEO Jay Monahan and his supporter DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley on the OWGR board these changes are no surprise.

To be blunt it means if you play on the PGA Tour and can make cuts and record passable placings you will earn more points than winners on many other tours. Tellingly the recent DP World Tour Race to Dubai finale provided knockout proof of this.

It featured a stellar field of numerous top 25 players and many more in the top 50. On the other side of the ocean the PGA’s RSM Classic was played with a field devoid of anyone in the top 25 and many who get few starts in events. Seamus Power was the top ranked player at 30th. The winner Adam Svensson picked up 37.05175 ranking points while Jon Rahm in beating a stellar field received a miserable 21.8 points. Under the old system last years Dubai finale winner Collin Morikawa picked up 46 points. Ridiculous!!

The new system which took effect in August rewards larger fields. Rahm lambasted this while sitting next to two OWGR committee members including Keith Pelley. “I’ll be blunt. I think the OWGR now is laughable ,laughable, laughable.” He said putting the size or depth of field ahead of the strength of the field was a mistake as it devalues the value of the better players. “I think it is more valuable if you are beating the best players.” He would also be happy to see the LIV Tour have ranking points but with adjustments because of the format.

To further emphasise the huge advantages the PGA Tour has been given take a look at recent points earned by winners on various tours in mid November. Houston Open winner received 38.1 points. Nedbank Challenge winner Tommy Fleetwood received 14.92 points and Ryan Fox 8.95 for second. Ryo Ishikawa gained 6.15 points at the Taiheiyo Masters in Japan. At the Asian Tour Egypt International Series event Andy Ogletree won 4.49 points.

At the Victorian PGA Andrew Martin received a whopping 1.114 points. 13th place in the Nedbank and 43rd at Houston earned more points. The following week the Thailand Masters winner received 1.22 points. So for example an Asian Tour player would have to win 9 marquee events to get as many points as the winner of a PGA event devoid of top 30 players.

Just as scathing as Rahm perhaps more so was Australia’s David Micheluzzi after the Australian PGA tournament recently where he finished 6th in a strong field and earned 2.01 OWGR points.  This was co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour. At the previous event in January 2022 Micheluzzi finished T9th for 4.48 OWGR points. How could that be? This was a standalone PGA Tour of Australasia event. No wonder Micheluzzi was baffled. Play better in a stronger field and get less than half the points for finishing higher. Simply more evidence of what the PGA Tours’ agenda really is. Micheluzzi did not hold back on Twitter. His abreviations left no doubt what his four letter words were. So it appears that the co-sanctioning of events with the DP World Tour is detrimental for players rankings.

 DP World Tour CEO Pelley said “we implemented a new system…..and you evaluate, modify, tweak and at the next board meeting we will have those conversations.” Pity they didn’t think clearly first before acting. Agreeing with Micheluzzi former pro Barry Lane said ‘the rankings are utter s***. Play the PGA and Korn Ferry Tours and you will be fine but anywhere else you get shafted.’ One commenter said this fact had been overlooked.

Interestingly Rory McIlroy who has benefitted greatly from the weakened fields missing the LIV players, disagrees with Rahm. He thinks it is a fairer way to determine the best players in the world. Why wouldn’t he think that, sitting at World No.1 with many of the best players no longer in the fields and unable to earn ranking points. As well of course as the significantly reduced points players can earn on other tours under the “new’ system.

Rahm says LIV has some incredible players such as Dustin Johnson and believes a compromise could be achieved to ensure players like Johnson and others are not frozen out. It certainly appears that if sanity is to be achieved with world rankings, somehow ALL golfers, whichever tour they play on should be able to earn points and get a fair shake of the dice on an even playing field, something that is no longer the case. Jon Rahm has made a strong call…..but will anyone listen?