LIV Golf star Cameron Smith takes swipe at ‘obsolete’ world ranking system
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Open champion and LIV Golf star Cameron Smith says the global ranking system is becoming ‘outdated’ due to points not being awarded for events in the Saudi-backed series .
The 29-year-old won his first major at St Andrews in July and also won the Players Championship to rise to world number two, before becoming the highest-ranked player to move up to the lucrative circuit.
The Aussie is now number four but other top players who have moved to LIV have dropped down the rankings.
Former world number one Dustin Johnson, the 2022 LIV individual champion, fell to 46th place while 2020 US Open winner Bryson DeChambeau barely made it into the top 100, with the American slipping to 96th place.
LIV Golf submitted an application to the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) Board of Directors last July, but no decision has been announced.
“Of course it hurts,” Smith said Wednesday. “I feel like I’m close to reaching No. 1, and that was definitely something I wanted to check off.
“I think when you go into a tournament you know who you have to beat, whether there’s a world ranking or not. There’s usually seven to eight guys who are in that area and you know they’re going to fight pretty well.
“However, the longer this stuff goes on, I think the more stale these rankings become. Do we need them? That would be nice, but you know who you have to beat when you hit the golf course.
Critics say LIV Golf, which is funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, amounts to blatant ‘sportswashing’ by a nation trying to improve its reputation tarnished by a history of human rights abuses male.
Smith will headline a field full of LIV golfers at the Asian Tour Saudi International season opener, which kicks off on Thursday, with Johnson, DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson all set to compete.
Reuters