Major winners clash over world rankings

Major champions Justin Thomas and Bubba Watson clashed amid a discussion over world ranking points.

Twitter account Flushing It questioned the fairness of the new OWGR system, which was introduced earlier this year and has since been heavily criticised.

The row arose over the number of points on offer at the Hero World Challenge, where Tommy Fleetwood – who finished last – earned 2.0886 points, the same as Chan Shih-Chang and Graeme McDowell, who shared third at the Indonesian Masters.

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US PGA champion Thomas, who finished fifth in the Bahamas, waded in, writing: “An event with 15ish (sorry not sure the exact number) of the top 20 in the world? It’s all about the quality of the field. The new system is hurting events like this more than it does that. Like anything in golf, play well enough in big events and you’ll be rewarded.”

Responding to a user who asked for his thoughts on whether LIV Golf should get points, Thomas added: “I have no problem with them getting points, they just need to meet the criteria like everybody else. But they don’t in 7 of the 8 categories from my understanding. Every tour went thru the 2-3 year process to earn OWGR pts, no reason they shouldn’t be different right?”

Thomas’ response clearly annoyed two-time Masters winner Watson, who defected to LIV earlier this year but is yet to make his debut on the circuit due to injury.

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“It’s easy to repeat stuff others say without knowing the facts,” Watson wrote.

“Not all tours are forced to wait for OWGR status. PGA Tour China was confirmed for points before playing its first event in 2014. OWGR has a long history of awarding points to 54-hole events too.”