His father once said to Calvin, the precocious Calvin, that “the world is unfair”, according to Bill Watterson’s comic strip Calvin and Hobbes.
Calvin said, “I know,” Calvin replied, “But it’s not always unfair in my favor.”
European tour loyalists have adopted the Tao of Calvin as a governing sentiment. They are more aware than ever of any possible dilution in their circuit’s long-standing grace and favor status. The Official World Golf Ranking was radically redesigned in August. This gave the perpetually aggrieved new wood to build a cross they could affix to.
Jon Rahm called the OWGR from this week’s DP World Tour Championship, Dubai “Laughable”. “It’s laughable that the RSM Classic of the (PGA Tour) has more points than this tournament, which has seven of the top 20 world players, is absurd.”
Rahm is a thoughtful man and his comments were only erroneous in their timeliness. These rankings were laughable. They are now like all rating systems: they are imperfect.
Golf’s world ranking was compromised from birth, corrupted frequently thereafter, held hostage by politicking and used to support weak tournaments. Flagship events were designated by member tours, which meant that more ranking points could be awarded than was justified by the field’s strength. Each tour also had to be assigned a minimum number points for tournaments with low lineups. Both the European and PGA tours had a minimum of 24 points. It was used by the PGA Tour in approximately 12% of its events, and the Europeans in approximately 50%. Other tours did not use it at all.
If an event’s value was artificially increased using minimum points, it would result in the ranking being degraded. This also served to decrease the value of achievements against elite fields. Although the 2019 Magical Kenya Open was moved from the Challenge Tour to a main European circuit, the quality of the field remained challenging. Justin Harding was the highest-ranked player in the world at 117th. He was second against mediocre opponents and received more ranking points (10.4) than he earned for a T-12 at The Masters (10.13) one month later.
This summer, the system was introduced to end institutional bias and widespread false accounting. Each player contributes points towards a total which is divided by percentage. The RSM Classic winner will receive 37 points or 17.2% of 215 total points. Dubai’s winner should receive 21.8 points, which is 18.2% of the total 121 points.
The algorithm was created by Mark Broadie, a Columbia Business School professor. The winner of the DP World Tour Championship must beat 49 players. 34 of those players have to be ranked among the top 200. The RSM Classic winner must beat 155 players. 68 of these players are ranked in top 200. This is a much more difficult task.
People who are keen to search for eye-opening wrinkles within the ranking system will not be disappointed. The man who finishes last in the Dubai no-cut tournament will be awarded more points than those who finish in Georgia’s bottom four. He will have defeated 90 men to get to the weekend. It is difficult to legislate against all such situations, as the line between unfair and imperfect is often one of perspective.
Although the OWGR is not perfect, it’s not laughable. Those who have benefited from bias will perceive any system as unfair if it is removed. Those who grumble from these quarters should be treated with skepticism, if any contempt for the conspiratorial guff being plied by LIV golfers eager to portray the OWGR lacking credibility or as part of a conspiracy to ruin Greg Norman’s folly. It’s a distraction tactic to avoid the non-compliance issue.
Europeans are becoming more accustomed to the fact that their tour offers ranking points that are not proportional to the talent pool. Dismissive verdicts such as Rahm’s are commonplace. Without taking into account legacy entitlements and politics, the only way to rank the best golfers in the world is to assess their performance and compare it with others. The new ranking system now focuses on accuracy and not influence. Some people are simply unhappy about the way their thumbs are being removed from the scale.
