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Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley has told LIV Golf they know what they have to fix to improve their Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) status.
After a three-and-a-half-year wait, LIV were finally handed OWGR points in February, just in time for the beginning of the 2026 season.
The ranking system made the decision to hand points to the top 10 performers at each LIV event.
While it signalled a major step for the league, those at LIV HQ were left unimpressed with the decision to limit the points to just those who finish in the top 10 at every tournament.
In the aftermath, a LIV statement blasted the ‘unprecedented’ decision. It read: “Limiting points to only the top ten finishers disproportionately harms players who consistently perform at a high level but finish just outside that threshold, as well as emerging talent working to establish themselves on the world stage – precisely the players a fair and meritocratic ranking system is designed to recognise.”
Despite LIV’s grievances, the OWGR had outlined the outstanding issues regarding the league’s application, which were holding them back from earning further points.
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This included LIV’s 57-man fields, no-cut events, limited access into the league, the selection of its players, and, ‘the addition/removal of players to/from teams based on their nationality rather than for meritocratic reasons’.
The latter point appeared to be in reference to Japanese star, Jinichiro Kozuma, who was dropped from the formerly-known Iron Heads during the offseason following their rebrand to Korean Golf Club.
In his pre-Masters press conference on Wednesday, Ridley admitted he was ‘hopeful’ that LIV bosses would make efforts to fix these issues. “The issues involved in LIV getting or not getting ranking points has been public in Trevor Immelman’s letter to LIV a while back,” he said.
“Several of the issues that were raised have been addressed, which resulted in LIV receiving limited points. They know what those issues are. Scott O’Neil has a copy of that letter, as I’m sure most of you do as well, and hopefully there will be efforts made to address those issues and allow them to receive more ranking points.”
“The purpose of the system is to make sure the best players in the world have an opportunity to play in the best tournaments.”
Among other topics in Wednesday’s press conference, Ridley discussed his support to the golf ball roll back, as well as doubling down on his support for the absent Tiger Woods.
