Rankings debate unfolding ‘just like we thought’: Mickelson

HONG KONG: Several PGA Tour stars have openly questioned the value of the Official World Golf Ranking system without the inclusion of LIV Golf players.

That comes as no surprise to Phil Mickelson, who referenced his social media campaign over the past year to get the OWGR to recognize LIV events. “I don’t really have any more to add. But it is all starting to play out just like we thought it would,” Mickelson said on Thursday ahead of this week’s LIV event in Hong Kong.

The Saudi-backed league has abandoned its efforts to be included in the OWGR, leading PGA stars including Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay and Matt Fitzpatrick to question the legitimacy of the rankings without several of the top players in the world.

“Obviously, now when you have a huge chunk of really, really good players that are not getting any ranking points, it definitely devalues that ranking,” said Hovland, who reportedly turned down a massive offer to join LIV.

It is the latest sign of cooling tensions between players on the rival tours. That support opened the door for Mickelson to tout the “extremely strong” product he believes LIV is delivering around the world.

He described the league as a startup that is nimble enough to experiment with new ideas and implement them without cutting through years of red tape. That has been exemplified, in Mickelson’s view, by the well-received nine-hole pro-am format that LIV players participate in before events.

“I think it’s a very big thing, an important part of the overall experience, meaning the interaction on pro-am day between the players and the amateurs is important because many of those players are people that are making decisions to support the game of golf, to sponsor the game of golf, to support other pros or just bring notoriety to the game,” Mickelson said. “It’s a positive for both sides. When that was discussed with LIV, it made sense, and we did it.

“Conversely, I tried for 10 years to make that happen on the (PGA) Tour, and then we got two events to do it and then we got four events to do it, and it took 15 years to get something like that done. I think that shows how fluid LIV Golf is and the ability to do whatever we can to make it a better experience and make decisions quickly and move swiftly to improve.”

Hong Kong is the fourth of 14 scheduled events in LIV Golf’s third season. It is also one of eight different international stops. While many have questioned the league’s format while investing billions of dollars to lure star players, Mickelson claimed the international flair of the tour exemplifies how it is growing the game globally.

“I’m proud to be a part of LIV Golf, and all the players on LIV are proud to be out here and enjoying it,” he said. “There’s a lot of things we can adjust to make it better, and we continue to do so weekly and make subtle changes.

“But our product is extremely strong. We have so many of the best players in the world and the ability to move the best players around the world to showcase golf at the highest level into parts of the world that have never been exposed to it has really helped pushing the game.”