PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Scottie Scheffler is currently in his 147th week in the top spot of the Official World Golf Ranking, a spot he is unlikely to relinquish anytime soon.
That is already third all-time behind the record 683 weeks for Tiger Woods and 331 for Greg Norman.
And it’s a subject he was asked about Tuesday at Royal Portrush, site of this week’s British Open, where Scheffler will try to win a second major championship this year after winning the PGA Championship in May.
Last week, the OWGR announced that the LIV Golf League had submitted an application in order for its players to earn points.
“I think having the ability to rank all the golfers in the world is really important,” Scheffler said. “When you have guys always playing a different schedule, it can be very hard to rank player versus player. That was always difficult for us, I would say, in amateur golf because you have so many different tournaments and guys aren’t playing against each other every week.
“In terms of the world ranking points, I think the more often we can get the best players in the world playing together would be better, and that would only be better for the rankings as well.”
LIV Golf maintains that the OWGR is not accurate without a number of its players getting points at LIV events.
Joaquin Niemann, who is 80th in the OWGR, has won four times this year on LIV Golf. He’d be in the top 10 or thereabouts if he were getting points for his LIV Golf events. Two-time major champion Jon Rahm, who is 72nd, hasn’t won on LIV but has been top 10 in all 100 events. He’d be around 23rd.
LIV first applied for accreditation in July 2022 and was rejected in October 2023. The OWGR at the time said the LIV fell short of player pathways, particularly at the end of its season but also via tournament variance. LIV Golf has a 54-player fixed field every week. It also raised concerns over the team format used by LIV potentially having an impact on individual outcomes.
LIV sent an application dated June 30 to the OWGR, whose chairman is former Masters champion Trevor Immelman.
Any changes that LIV Golf has offered up to be considered have not been announced.
The OWGR board and technical committee is scheduled to meet at this week’s Open at Royal Portrush and there is no timetable for a decision.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Scottie Scheffler Suggests LIV Golfers Should Be Included in World Rankings.