Jon Rahm Sounding off on OWGR’s Limited Points Decision to LIV Golf Has Fans Slamming Him: “Wipe Your Tears Off”

Jon Rahm was not pleased with LIV Golf getting limited points from the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) and expressed his frustrations regarding it.


Jon Rahm Sounding off on OWGR’s Limited Points Decision to LIV Golf Has Fans Slamming Him: “Wipe Your Tears Off”

Jon Rahm (Image via Imago)

On Tuesday, the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) finally agreed to award ranking points to LIV Golf. However, only the top-10 finishers (and ties) in LIV events will get them. This was something that did not sit well with Jon Rahm, leading to him sounding off on the decision.

Since its inception, LIV Golf did not receive these rankings points. Under the leadership of Greg Norman, their application for these points was rejected in 2023. The OWGR would claim that the Public Investment Fund (PIF) backed tour was not playing a format where they could be ranked “equitably” with the other 24 tours.

With Scott O’Neil in charge, the league applied for these points again last year. In the offseason, they even made some changes, like adapting to the 72-hole format and increasing their field size by a small margin.

This time, their application for this was approved. It, though, came with a major catch.

Only the top-10 finishers (and ties) will receive these ranking points. This means that anyone finishing below 10th will not receive any points.

Rahm, the two-time LIV Golf Individual Champion, was one of those who were not pleased with this decision. Following the opening round of LIV Golf Riyadh, where he fired a score of 5-under par, the Spaniard took aim at the OWGR body.

In the post-round interview, the former World No.1 claimed that it did not seem fair that only 10 of them would receive points for now.

I don’t like how we’re not being treated the same as every other tour. It seems like the rules that have been in place aren’t really applied to us, with only 10 of us getting points, it doesn’t seem fair.

Jon Rahm said

The golfer, however, did admit it was fantastic that they were getting these points. He then claimed that there was still work to be done.

Rahm had previously taken a shot at the OWGR as well. After the league withdraw their appeal for the points, he expressed that the rankings were not a good system.

Last year, the Legion XIII captain did not win any LIV Golf events. He though, finished inside the top-10 in 12 of the 13 events. This saw him win the LIV Golf Individual Championship for a second straight year.

As for the majors, Rahm made the cut in all 4 majors and recorded 2 top-10 finishes (T8 at PGA Championship and T7 at U.S. Open). At the moment, he is ranked 97th in the OWGR.

Fans take swipe at Jon Rahm for sounding off on OWGR’s decision regarding LIV Golf

After 4 seasons with no ranking points, LIV Golf will finally get some points in its 5th season. It’s limited allotment to LIV Golf drew the ire of Jon Rahm, who sounded off on the OWGR following the first round of LIV Golf Riyadh. Fans would then take a swipe at the 2-time major champion.

Jon Rahm
Jon Rahm (Image via Imago)

Social media users did not seem too pleased to see the strong reactions from LIV Golf stars. Many of them ridiculed them for this. One user slammed Rahm and wrote, “wipe off your tears“, while reacting to this.

Check out that and some other reactions from X below:

As per the projection by the OWGR, the winner this week in Riyadh will earn 23.03 points, while the runner-up will get 13.36 points. The 10th-place finisher will get up to 2.76 points.

Jon Rahm among early pace setters in LIV Golf Riyadh

On Wednesday, LIV Golf’s 5th season got underway. Jon Rahm was among the early pace setters in LIV Golf Riyadh, taking place in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Jon Rahm
Jon Rahm (Image via LIV Golf)

Rahm had a bogey-free round on Wednesday. The 2-time major champion carded 5 birdies to finish the round with a score of 67.

He was tied with Sebastian Munoz, Byeong Hun An, Talor Gooch, Louis Oosthuizen and his teammate Tyrrell Hatton at T4. With a 6-under par score, Elvis Smylie was ranked third in the standings behind co-leaders Peter Uihlein and debutant Thomas Detry, who both fired scores of 7-under par.

At the moment, all of them are eligible for the ranking points. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top in the first 72-hole LIV event and takes home the biggest share of OWGR points.

Also Read: