You might be surprised if you click on “This Week’s Events”, which is located on the OWGR website.
The RSM Classic is a typical end-of-season event on the PGA Tour that awards almost twice as many ranking points to the winner of Sea Island than the winner of the DP World Championship. This is despite Dubai hosting Rory McIlroy (former number one) and Jon Rahm (current number five), ninth place Matt Fitzpatrick and five other players from the top-30.
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Seamus Power, who is ranked 30 and in-form, but not with the same pedigree as the three previous names, Shane Lowry, Viktor Hovland, or Tony Finau, was the world number 12.
Rahm finds the point system very boring and doesn’t think the 50-strong field at the Earth Course are enjoying it.
OWGR now ranks events based on their overall strength of field. With a full field versus a limited field, the RSM Classic has a rating that is over 100 points higher then the championship event. Points are therefore distributed accordingly.
Rahm did not hesitate to let his emotions be known before the event.
“I will be as blunt and direct as possible. “I think the OWGR is absurd right now.”
Rahm said that while I understand the goal of the tournament with its depth, having the best players around the world makes it better.
“I don’t care about what their system says. They have made a huge mistake. While I believe some aspects might be advantageous, I feel they have devalued certain players’ worth.
“The 30 top players of the year shouldn’t be punished because they are a smaller field.”
“Depth in field does not mean a better tourney. I could go on. They have erred on the side of caution here.
This year’s official ranking system was already questioned on numerous occasions. Many questioned their validity after LIV events were declared ineligible for any ranking points.
This has resulted in a decrease in rankings for Dustin Johnson, 2022 Open Champion winner Cam Smith and others. LIV is keen to reverse this trend in the future.
Keith Pelley, DP World Tour chief is already under pressure to speak to the LIV ruling board. The rebellious talk by one of his supportive players doesn’t help matters.
He stated, “There is no doubt Jon Rahm’s conversation as well as some of the other notable changes around OWGR will be a subject at our next board meeting.” It is prudent to bring this up based upon the comments .”
The OWGR is a hot topic because of many reasons. Four universities did extensive research and came to the same conclusion: the world rankings don’t always reflect the game of golf. We therefore created a new system. As with all new systems, you must evaluate it and make any necessary modifications .”
Rahm insists that beating better players will lead to higher points.
The 2021 US Open winner asked, “Would it be better to win a tournament if you had the number one player in world there or the 30th? or 6th?”
“I believe it’s more valuable when you beat the best players in world. Many people would agree with me and it should reflect .”
This puts Rahm in conflict with Rory McIlroy (another anti-LIV player, Ryder Cup colleague), who supported the new points distribution.
The FedEX Cup winner said that there was a 50-man field and a 144 man field.
“They have 90 additional players who can contribute to the strength of their field, so it is not about how strengths of field are calculated. This is why the RSM has 21 points and the RSM 39. The person who wins the RSM must beat 139 other em>
“You have to beat 49 guys here. It’s a more fair system .”
