Analysis: World ranking doesn't always work for LIV. It works for Olympic qualifying

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (AP) — The men's golf competition in the Olympics has assembled its strongest field for the Paris Games. That's not be mistaken for the best field.

The most glaring omission is Bryson DeChambeau, the U.S. Open champion when he's not creating YouTube content with former President Donald Trump.

In the last year, DeChambeau shot 58 on the LIV Golf circuit, tied for sixth in the Masters, was runner-up by one shot at the PGA Championship and snagged his second U.S. Open title from Rory McIlroy at Pinehurst No. 2 with an up-and-down from 55 yards away on the last hole.

DeChambeau, however, decided to defect to Saudi-funded LIV Golf two years ago for a signing bonus worth about five times his career earnings on the PGA Tour. LIV Golf doesn't get world ranking points. DeChambeau picked up points only from the 11 tournaments he played —mostly the majors — in the two-year Official World Golf Ranking period.

The Olympics use the OWGR to determine who gets to play.

Therein lies the problem.

DeChambeau was No. 210 in the world going into the Masters. Now he is No. 10 and is nowhere near Le Golf National.

“It's just the situation in golf right now. It's unfair,” said Carlos Ortiz of Mexico, one of the early members of LIV Golf.

“Especially Olympic Games, you want to have the best golfers right here, but politics somehow manage things," he said. “I still feel there's golfers that should be here and couldn't be here because of what has happened. I think the Olympic Games definitely should be neutral.”

What happened was LIV.

The Saudi-funded league paid more than $2 billion to lure away players from the PGA Tour. The OWGR doesn't award points for the league because it's a closed shop of the same players (54 this year) all season. The OWGR found it hard to measure a league with players who don't compete against anyone else around the world except for four times a year.

It also doesn't help DeChambeau that he is American.

“No. 9 in the world is not here, either,” Shane Lowry of Ireland countered. “The American team is a hard team to make.”

Countries can have a maximum of four players provided they are among the top 15 in the world. The Americans have four of the top six. Lowry was referring to Patrick Cantlay, who was No. 9 a month ago and now is No. 8.

Next in line would have been DeChambeau. Turns out he needed to win two majors to qualify for the Olympics. Such is the plight for LIV golfers, especially Americans.

“You could have the fifth-best sprinter in the world, but if he’s from a certain country, he’s not able to make it,” McIlroy said. “So I think it’s just the way that the qualification works in the Olympic Games, and that’s not just in golf. That’s in other disciplines, as well.”

And that's how it's going to be. Because there really is no better solution than the world ranking to account for all of golf, not just the PGA Tour.

That explains why 60 players from 34 countries are playing. It is the strongest Olympic field because the Paris Games have eight of the top 10 in the world.

The strongest field can be found at the PGA Championship, with the U.S. Open and British Open not far behind. They include LIV players if they are eligible from their performance in majors or through qualifying.

The Olympics is about five rings, not four majors.

Jon Rahm signed with LIV last December at No. 2 in the world and he had enough standing in the world ranking that he hasn't fallen very far — yet.

Cameron Smith of Australia was No. 2 after winning the British Open at St. Andrews in 2022. He left for LIV a month later. He has three LIV titles (none this year) and now is No. 84 in the world. Four other Aussies are ahead of him, all among the top 50.

Rahm and Ortiz favor leaving the decision up to each country's Olympic committee.

“Allow the countries to pick themselves,” Rahm said. “There needs to be some guidelines, but like Team USA Basketball has freedom to choose whoever they want."

One problem: Which countries get to choose to fill out a 60-man field? Argentina wasn't represented in the Tokyo Games.

Ortiz actually is an example of the world ranking helping LIV players.

Because their divisor (tournaments played) is at the minimum in the OWGR formula, it doesn't take much to move up in the ranking. Ortiz was No. 1,286 in the world when he won the International Series Oman on the Asian Tour. He moved up to No. 237, effectively securing his spot in Paris.

David Puig is the most remarkable qualifier of the seven LIV golfers in the Olympics.

He was fresh out of Arizona State when he joined LIV, and the 22-year-old Spaniard began traveling all over the world to play Asian Tour events along with the LIV schedule. He traveled more than 50,000 miles in four months and played well enough that his world ranking went from No. 245 to No. 133 to get the second spot for Spain.

“Tried to gain as many points as I could, and I’m glad it paid off,” Puig said. “Making the team here, that makes me very proud.”

DeChambeau took the high road and only hoped for a solution in golf's divide, which does not appear to be around any corner. This was the road he chose. For now, it's back to his YouTube content before finishing out the year with LIV Golf. They don't award medals, only money.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games