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The long-running saga over whether or not to give Official World Golf Ranking points to the LIV Golf League has taken a stunning new twist.
As first reported by The Telegraph, DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley has revealed that he and his PGA Tour counterpart Jay Monahan have recused themselves from voting on the matter.
Keith Waters, Pelley’s right-hand man who represents the International Federation of PGA Tours on the OWGR board, has done likewise.
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That means that the decision over whether or not to grant world ranking points to the Saudi-funded enterprise will sit squarely in the hands of the organisations who run the four men’s major championships: Augusta National Golf Club (The Masters); the PGA of America (US PGA Championship); the USGA (US Open); and the R&A (The Open).
“At the last OWGR board meeting [in December] myself, Jay Monahan and Keith Waters recused ourselves and now a separate committee made up of the four majors will now determine the application,” said Pelley.
“I have not looked at the LIV application and I’ve not given my opinions on an application I’ve not seen. So, as far as LIV goes, we are not involved in it and have no influence or say in what transpires.”
The news comes as a major surprise as it would appear, at face value at least, to greatly improve LIV’s chances of being granted ranking points.
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Augusta National Golf Club and the R&A have already said that they will honour any current exemptions into their respective events that are currently held by LIV players, the latter adding that non-exempt LIV golfers will continue to eligible to enter qualifying for the championship.
However, both organisations have gone on record with their reservations about the new tour.
Ahead of The 150th Open last summer, Martin Slumbers, the chief executive of the R&A, dismissed LIV as “not credible”, although he struck a more conciliatory tone in October when he said that The Open needed to “set itself aside from what’s going in terms of disagreements and make sure we stay true to our principle, which is to have the best players in the world competing.”
Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley, meanwhile, used his announcement that eligible LIV players would be invited to play in this year’s Masters to lament “recent actions” that have “divided men’s professional golf by diminishing the virtues of the game and the meaningful legacies of those who built it.”
Elsewhere, it has been confirmed that Sports Resolutions UK will arbitrate on the dispute between 13 LIV golfers and the DP World Tour next month.
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The five-day hearing is scheduled to take place behind closed doors from February 6, with a decision expected potentially “several weeks” later. A panel of two KCs and former high court judge Phillip Sycamore will hear the dispute.
The 13 LIV players named as appellants in the case are: Richard Bland, Laurie Canter, Justin Harding, Sam Horsfield, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Shaun Norris, Wade Ormsby, Adrian Otaegui, Ian Poulter, Patrick Reed, Lee Westwood and Bernd Wiesberger.
Sergio Garcia, Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace had originally been named but are understood to have since withdrawn.
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