Ahead of last week’s DP World Tour Championship, Jon Rahm blasted the ranking organization, essentially calling it a fraud, while saying their new system is “laughable.”
Rahm, who ironically ended up winning the European golf tour’s final event, was livid that the OWGR’s new algorithm was awarding just 21 points to its champion, despite a field that included seven (yes, 7!) of the world’s top 25 players.
“I’m going to be as blunt as I can,” said the fiery Spaniard. “The OWGR right now is laughable. Laughable. Laughable.”
The OWGR’s new system – which places more emphasis on field quantity (field size) and less on field quality (top ranked players)- was implemented in August for the sole purpose to hurt the LIV Golf Series’ 48-player fields and aid the PGA Tour’s larger fields (up to 156 players).
The problem here was the Dubai event is a limited field of only 50 players so just 21 points was awarded to the winner. In 2021, for instance, Collin Morikawa picked up 37 points for his victory in Dubai.
On top of that, the RSM Classic’s winner, Adam Svenssen pulled in 39 points, despite not a single top-25 ranked player in the field (the highest-ranked player was Seamus Power at No.30). The Sea Island event, though, had a field of 156 players.
“The fact that the RSM doesn’t have any of the top 20 in the world and has more points than this event, where we have seven of the top 20 is laughable,” said Rahm.
“The fact that Wentworth (BMW Championship) had less points than Napa (Fortinet Championship), having players in the top 10 in the world is laughable.
“I understand what they are trying to do with the depth of field but having the best players in the world automatically makes the tournament better. I don’t care what their system says.
“They have made a mistake. Some aspects of it might be beneficial, but they have devalued the value of the better players.”
