LIV Golf is finally getting Official World Golf Ranking points this season.
The OWGR announced on Tuesday that it has granted world ranking points to LIV Golf events for the 2026 season, something the Saudi Arabian-backed league has been fighting for since its inception.
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However, only the top 10 finishers in LIV Golf individual stroke play events will actually receive points. LIV Golf events will be based on the OWGR’s “small field tournaments” classification. Players who finish outside of the top 10 will not receive any points.
“This has been an incredibly complex and challenging process and one which we have devoted a huge amount of time and energy to resolving in the seven months since LIV Golf submitted their application,” OWGR chairman Trevor Immelman said in a statement. “We fully recognised the need to rank the top men’s players in the world but at the same time had to find a way of doing so that was equitable to the thousands of other players competing on other tours that operate with established meritocratic pathways.
“We believe we have found a solution that achieves these twin aims and enables the best-performing players at LIV Golf events to receive OWGR points. I would like to acknowledge the substantial and constructive efforts made by Scott O’Neil and the team at LIV Golf. We look forward to working with them on implementing this approach with immediate effect for the 2026 LIV Golf season.”
By comparison, all players who make the cut in a PGA Tour event receive OWGR points. Justin Rose, for example, earned just shy of 57 points for his win at the Farmers Insurance Open last week. That jumped him to No. 3 in the world, behind only Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy. Kensei Hirata, who finished 74th and was last among those who made it to the weekend, still earned 0.54685 points.
The OWGR released a projected breakdown for LIV Golf’s season opener in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The winner will receive just more than 23 points, while the 10th place finisher will earn about 2.76 points. LIV Golf events will earn about the same as opposite-field Tour events — like the Puerto Rico Open, which is played the same week as the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
“We respect today’s decision by the Official World Golf Ranking governing board and the considerable time the board and chairman Immelman committed to the process,” the Tour said in a brief statement.
The lack of OWGR points has hurt LIV Golf significantly since it first launched in 2022, and it has failed to get them in recent years both due to its 54-hole format, its closed-field format, the lack of a traditional cut and more. Those points are a major metric that tournaments, including the four major championships, use to build out their fields. The Masters, for example, invites the top 50 in the OWGR into its field at Augusta National if they haven’t qualified already some other way.
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Since LIV Golf members haven’t been earning points and have been plummeting in the world rankings, many have struggled to qualify for non-LIV Golf events. Former No. 1 Dustin Johnson, for example, is currently No. 662 in the world rankings. Brooks Koepka, who returned to the Tour last week under the new “Returning Members Program,” is ranked No. 252. Even Bryson DeChambeau, who has arguably faired the best at the majors since joining LIV Golf, is at No. 33.
“We acknowledge this long‑overdue moment of recognition, which affirms the fundamental principle that performance on the course should matter, regardless of where the competition takes place,” LIV Golf said in a statement. “However, this outcome is unprecedented. Under these rules, a player finishing 11th in a LIV Golf event is treated the same as a player finishing 57th. Limiting points to only the top 10 finishers disproportionately harms players who consistently perform at a high level but finish just outside that threshold, as well as emerging talent working to establish themselves on the world stage—precisely the players a fair and meritocratic ranking system is designed to recognize.
“No other competitive tour or league in OWGR history has been subjected to such a restriction. We expect this is merely a first step toward a structure that fully and fairly serves the players, the fans, and the future of the sport. We entered this process in good faith and will continue to advocate for a ranking system that reflects performance over affiliation. The game deserves transparency. The fans deserve credibility. And the players deserve a system that treats them equally.”
While the arrival of OWGR points gives LIV Golf more legitimacy as it enters its fifth season, the minimal points the league is being offered is going to make it difficult for the best golfers to climb back into contention with the rest of the sport.
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