Five Questions Answered
What is the OWGR?
OWGR is the Official World Golf Rankings. It’s an organization using multiple numerical calculations to determine the rank of every male professional golfer in the world. Presently, Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland is the world number 1 and Wang Xinjie Of China is number 2,805. The OWGR system is working on a two-year rolling period with golf’s four majors: The Masters, US Open, PGA Championship and The Open Championship holding the most weight and giving out the most points as these events are seen as the ultimate test in the professional game of golf. The entire list is online to view.
https://www.owgr.com/current-world-ranking
How long has OWGR been around?
The provided on the OWGR website states that the concept of the Ranking originated in the early 1980s and launched on Sunday, April 6th, 1986, during the week of the Masters Tournament. Bernhard Langer was the first-ever World No.1.
Following the early 1970’s dominance of the PGA TOUR with players such as Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, Tom Weiskopf, Billy Casper, Ben Crenshaw, Hubert Green and Hale Irwin, along with Gary Player from South Africa, one only had to look at the US PGA TOUR Money List to decide the best players in the world.
However, in the late 1970s and early to mid-1980, many International players began to challenge that prominence. Seve Ballesteros, Greg Norman, Bernhard Langer, Nick Price, Isao Aoki, Graham Marsh, Tommy Nakajima, Sandy Lyle and Nick Faldo were competing and winning internationally. There came a need for a Worldwide Ranking system. The R&A was also looking to improve their exemption criteria for the Open Championship.
Mark McCormack was aware of a World Ranking system that Tony Greer had been working on. After extensive research and discussions with the R&A and Sony, the first SONY RANKING was launched at the 1986 Masters, with the R&A as the sanctioning body using the World Ranking as an exemption category for the Open Championship.
Who Runs the OWGR?
Chairman – Peter Dawson CBE
Augusta National Golf Club – Will Jones, Executive Director
PGA European Tour – Keith Pelley, Chief Executive
PGA of America – Seth Waugh, Chief Executive Officer
PGA Tour – Jay Monahan, Commissioner
The R&A – Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive
USGA – Mike Whan, Chief Executive Officer
International Federation of PGA Tours – Keith Waters
Why is being talked about so much lately?
The startup professional golf tour LIV Golf’s players are presently blocked out from earning OWGR points in LIV Golf Tour events. Additionally, those golfers have presently been suspended or resigned from the PGA Tour. They want to earn those points because OWGR points are the path to play in the four major championships of golf. The major championships remain at the heart of professional golf and all players want the opportunity to compete and win these championships. For the best of the best, it’s the measurement stick to not only compare themselves to their peers but also to all past professional golfers and future professional golfers. While some of the major names on the LIV Tour like Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka have time exemptions that will allow them a longer window of time to compete in the majors, many of the LIV Tour players are falling down the rankings and are in jeopardy of not being able to earn points and compete in the majors.
Is there a women’s professional golf ranking system?
Yes, women’s professional golf has a very similar system that ranks all women professional golfers in a system that allows tournaments, including major tournaments to create criteria to qualify for their events. The women’s world rankings are also available to view online. Presently, Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand, a 19-year old, has just reached world number 1.