A report has claimed that PGA Tour stars are currently doing the maths to work out how many world ranking points they will need to play in major tournaments until 2024 before defecting to the LIV Golf series.
The big money Saudi-back series has attracted some of golf's top star including this year's Open Championship winner Cameron Smith. However, LIV Golf events are still not accredited by the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR).
"A number of interested players on the PGA Tour, and a couple of big names in particular, are wanting to wait until 2023 to join LIV Golf if they are to move at all," an insider has told GolfMagic.
"This is because they will have accumulated enough OWGR points that if LIV Golf still doesn't have it sorted then they will still have enough points to stay in the Top 50 for the 2022/23 season and be able to qualify for the 2024 majors.
"The players and their agents are all doing the maths at the moment, and by going to LIV Golf in 2023, they can still play in all four majors in 2023 and 2024 regardless of what LIV manages to sort out with the OWGR."
An application made in July by the LIV Golf series to be given ranking points remains undecided. During this time five tournaments have been hosted by the controversial series with no ranking points awarded yet - with Open champion Smith winning the recent Chicago event.
Due to the different format of the invitational LIV Golf events they do not meet the criteria for OWGR points. LIV events are played over 54-holes, not the recognised 72 holes; they have 48 players not the standard 75; there are no cuts or qualifying and no spots for local players.
LIV Golf rebels also fear missing out on ranking points and have written a combined letter addressed to OWGR chairman Peter Dawson, asking for a resolution.
It states: "As the athletes who are ranked, we depend on OWGR not just to qualify for the most important events, including the majors and Olympics, but to tell us where we stand among our peers.
"To maintain trust, we urge you - as one of the true statesmen of sports - to act appropriately to include, on a retroactive basis, the results of LIV Golf events in OWGR's ranking calculations. An OWGR without LIV would be incomplete and inaccurate."
LIV Golf members are suspended from PGA Tour events but can still play in DP World Tour after having their suspensions overturned pending the outcome of a court case.
PGA Tour star Rory McIlroy is looking to win the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship for the first time this week. However, he will face a field including 11 LIV Golf members who are accused of using the DP World Tour events to boost their word rankings.
“Look, my opinion is they [LIV golfers] shouldn’t be here," said McIlroy ahead of the BMW PGA Championship, another DP World Tour event earlier this month.
"They have been paid a lot of money to go and play on a different tour that is trying to buy the game of professional golf, and they are taking places away from players who really need spots this week."
