LIV Golf received a boost on the eve of starting its fifth season when the Official World Golf Ranking approved the Saudi-funded league to receive ranking points for the first time.
The unanimous decision by the OWGR board Tuesday came with some conditions, however.
Points will be distributed only for the top 10 and ties, compared with other tours that have smaller fields and leave out only the bottom finishers. Considering that LIV Golf has been without ranking points since the league launched in 2022, its strength of field will be lower.
Tyrrell Hatton at No. 22 and Bryson DeChambeau at No. 33 are the only LIV players in the top 50, with five others among the top 100. Jon Rahm is at No. 97.
But the decision is effective immediately as LIV Golf begins Wednesday in Saudi Arabia.
The board decision ends a debate that has been around almost as long as LIV. The OWGR rejected the first application in October 2023 when former chairman Peter Dawson said the board could not fairly measure LIV against the other tours.
Former Masters champion Trevor Immelman, now the lead CBS Sports analyst, became OWGR chairman last year and had been in constant contact with Scott O’Neil, the new CEO of LIV.
LIV has gone from 54 holes to 72 holes for 2026, though that wasn’t a big obstacle in getting world ranking points because other smaller tours around the world also have 54-hole events. Rather it was the turnover in LIV, and the self-selection of adding players with contracts.
But the board worked around those issues to make LIV Golf the 25th circuit in the OWGR.
The Associated Press contributed to this article