Justin Thomas on LIV Golf members trying to get OWGR points: ‘I don’t understand’

Golf

Products You May Like

LIV Golf members still can’t earn Official World Golf Rankings points at their events, something that is going to start hurting players on the Saudi Arabian-backed circuit.

In Justin Thomas’ eyes, however, they only have themselves to blame.

Thomas, speaking ahead of the Presidents Cup this week at Quail Hollow Club in North Carolina, doesn’t get why they’re so upset. They knew this was going to happen.

“I mean, I don’t understand. It’s very obvious and written right there in front of them,” Thomas said. “They just naturally want what’s best for them, just like the decision they made to go there.”

All 48 players who competed in last week’s LIV Golf event near Chicago co-signed a letter to OWGR chairman Peter Dawson this week trying to get ranking points available for the league.

They even went as far as comparing themselves to the Big Ten and the SEC.

“An OWGR without LIV would be incomplete and inaccurate,” they wrote, “the equivalent of leaving the Big 10 or the SEC out of the U.S. college football rankings, or leaving Belgium, Argentina, and England out of the FIFA rankings … Fans deserve rankings that are inclusive and accurate. Failure to include 48 of the world’s best golfers would mean the fans are being denied what they deserve.”

The OWGR doesn’t have a timetable for its decision. LIV Golf members — which includes several top-ranked golfers and plenty of recent major championship winners — will soon start to plummet in the rankings. That will make it harder and harder for them to qualify for future majors and other events outside of the LIV Golf circuit.

While Thomas said he gets why they’d want the ranking points, and he admits the ranking system may be off going forward, he doesn’t think that means they should just get the points.

After all, he said, there are rules and systems already in place — which again, he noted, LIV Golf members knew about when they left the PGA Tour.

“Hey, if I was doing the same situation, I would want it, but that doesn’t necessarily make it right,” Thomas said. “The governing bodies have created a system for a reason, and that’s to try to create the best system possible to determine the best players in the world.

“Now, yeah, is it going to be skewed because some of the top players aren’t going to be in there? Yes. But that’s their own fault for making the decision they made, and they knew very, very well going into it there’s a good chance they won’t have world ranking points, and they took that risk.

“In my opinion, that’s their own fault.”

Justin Thomas
Justin Thomas thinks LIV Golf members can only blame themselves for their lack of OWGR points. (AP/Chris Carlson)

Products You May Like

Articles You May Like

Own goal saves USMNT from embarrassing loss
Yankees OF Gonzalez suffers right orbital fracture
USMNT vs. Mexico: USA coach Gregg Berhalter preaches patience ahead of Concacaf Nations League final
Canada’s best chance at a Stanley Cup in three-plus decades? How four contending teams stack up
UVA wins fourth straight swimming, diving title