19 October 2023 , 10:00
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LIV Golf star Louis Oosthuizen has revealed what he would like to see happen first once the PGA Tour's framework agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) is finalised.
After a year-long feud, LIV are finally set to work in unison with their PGA Tour rivals, with the world of golf ready to reunite with the backing of the Saudi fund. It remains to be seen what the proposed deal will mean for professional golf, having been torn in two thanks to the dispute.
One change Oosthuizen is keen to see is the awarding of world ranking points to the LIV Golf setup, after players have been left to compete without them since making the move to the breakaway league.
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Speaking in July, the South African said: "Yeah, look, there's a lot of things that need to happen. I think the first thing is somehow getting World Ranking points to LIV or changing the system completely. I think the system at the moment is really, it's not a real reflection of what's going on out there.
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"That can change, and we can somehow get back to getting points and things." Despite Oosthuizen's hopes, he and his fellow LIV players were dealt a huge blow last week, after the Official World Golf Rankings denied the rebel league's latest application for world ranking recognition.
In a public letter, the OWGR outlined a number of reasons as to why they were unable to grant LIV events ranking points, most notably their closed shop membership which sees the same players compete each week and a certain group exempt from the league's relegation process.
Louis Oosthuizen joined LIV Golf last summer (AP)The rejection was the latest setback for Greg Norman and Co., who have been campaigning for the right to award world ranking points to their players since their formation in June 2022. Clearly unhappy with the decision, LIV chiefs hit back with a scathing statement of their own.
"OWGR's sole objective is to rank the best players across the globe. Today's communication makes clear that it can no longer deliver on that objective," the statement read. "Players have historically remained subject to a single world ranking to qualify for major championships, the biggest events, and for corporate sponsor contract value.
"A ranking which fails to fairly represent all participants, irrespective of where in the world they play golf, robs fans, players and all of golf's stakeholders of the objective basis underpinning any accurate recognition of the world's best player performances. It also robs some traditional tournaments of the best fields possible."