LIV Golf events to receive world ranking points for 2026 season as OWGR declares 'effort to reflect changing landscape of men's professional game'
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Updated 03/02/2026 at 20:58 GMT
The governing board of the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) has announced that LIV Golf events will receive world ranking points for the 2026 season. OWGR said in a statement that "after conducting an exhaustive and collaborative process" the decision is "an effort to reflect the changing landscape of the men's professional game." But the ruling is limited to the top-10 finishers.
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LIV Golf events will receive world ranking points for the 2026 season, the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) governing board have announced - but the league has criticised an "unprecedented" ruling that will see only the top 10 finishers rewarded.
The news comes a couple of months after changes were made to LIV Golf event formats, and just days before the 2026 season opener in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - which begins on Wednesday, live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
An OWGR statement on Tuesday read: "After conducting an exhaustive and collaborative process, and in an effort to reflect the changing landscape of the men's professional game, the OWGR Board has made the decision to award world ranking points to LIV Golf events for the 2026 season.
"Ranking points will be allocated to the top-10 finishers (and ties) in LIV Golf's individual stroke play events, which recognises there are a number of areas where LIV Golf does not meet the eligibility standards set out by OWGR.
"LIV events will be ranked based on OWGR's standard classification of 'Small Field Tournaments' with a further 'virtual cut' applied to award points to players who finish in the top 10. Players who finish lower than 10th will not receive OWGR points and those points will not be redistributed to the players finishing 10th or higher."
LIV Golf stated a year ago that it would no longer seek accreditation from the OWGR having been denied accreditation in October 2023.
In March 2024, CEO Greg Norman cited a "lack of willingness" to work with the league in a statement which announced the withdrawal of a further application.
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Back then, Norman wrote in a letter to league members: "It is now clear that the best way forward for LIV as a league and you as LIV golfers is not through the current ranking system.
"A resolution which protects the accuracy, credibility, and integrity of the OWGR rankings no longer exists. We have made enormous efforts to fight for you and to ensure your accomplishments are recognised within the existing ranking system. Unfortunately, the OWGR has shown little willingness to productively work with us."
Following a fresh application in 2025, the league added qualifying spots and expanded tournaments from 54 to 72 holes - a change it had long resisted.
The shift in approach has had the desired knock-on effect and, after a long battle over accreditation, there has been a breakthrough between both parties.
"This has been an incredibly complex and challenging process and one which we have devoted a huge amount of time and energy to resolving in the seven months since LIV Golf submitted their application," OWGR chairman Trevor Immelman said.
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"We fully recognised the need to rank the top men's players in the world but, at the same time, had to find a way of doing so that was equitable to the thousands of other players competing on other tours that operate with established meritocratic pathways.
"We believe we have found a solution that achieves these twin aims and enables the best-performing players at LIV Golf events to receive OWGR points."
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Only top 10 finishers to be awarded world ranking points
While welcoming the development, LIV Golf responded to the news by simultaneously indicating its displeasure with the decision to limit points to the top 10 and ties, claiming it "disproportionally harms players who consistently perform at a high level but finish just outside that threshold."
The other 24 men's professional golf tours under OWGR legislation sees all players who make the cut earn points.
The league added: "The stated mission of the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) is to 'administer and publish a transparent, credible, and accurate ranking based on the relative performances of players participating in make Eligible Golf Tours worldwide.'
"We acknowledge this long-overdue moment of recognition, which affirms the fundamental principle that performance on the course should matter, regardless of where the competition takes place.
"However, this outcome is unprecedented. Under these rules, a player finishing 11th in a LIV Golf event is treated the same as a player finishing 57th.
"Limiting points to only the top 10 finishers disproportionately harms the players who consistently perform at a high level but finish just outside that threshold, as well as emerging talent working to establish themselves on the world stage - precisely the players a fair and meritocratic ranking system is designed to recognise.
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"No other competitive tour or league in OWGR history has been subjected to such a restriction. We expect this is merely a first step toward a structure that fully and fairly serves the players, the fans and the future of the sport.
"We entered this process in good faith and will continue to advocate for a ranking system that reflects performance over affiliation. The game deserves transparency. The fans deserve credibility. And the players deserve a system that treats them equally."
LIV Golf 2026 schedule
The LIV Golf 2026 season will see 13 events played between February and August, with the dates and schedule below.
- February 4-7 – ROSHN Group LIV Golf Riyadh, Riyadh Golf Club, Saudi Arabia
- February 12-15 – LIV Golf Adelaide, The Grange Golf Club, Australia
- March 5-8 – HSBC LIV Golf Hong Kong, Hong Kong Golf Club at Fanling, Hong Kong
- March 12-15 – LIV Golf Singapore, Sentosa Golf Club, Singapore
- March 19-22 – LIV Golf South Africa, Steyn City, South Africa
- April 16-19 – LIV Golf Mexico City, Club de Golf Chapultepec, Mexico
- May 7-10 – LIV Golf Virginia presented by Maaden, Trump National DC, USA
- June 4-7 – LIV Golf Andalucia, Real Club Valderrama, Spain
- June 25-28 – LIV Golf Louisiana, Bayou Oaks at City Park, USA
- July 23-26 – LIV Golf UK by JCB, JCB Golf and Country Club, Great Britain
- August 6-9 – LIV Golf New York, Trump National Bedminster, USA
- August 20-23 – LIV Golf Indianapolis, The Club at Chatham Hills, USA
- August 27-30 – Aramco LIV Golf Michigan, The Cardinal at Saint John’s, US
How to watch the LIV Golf 2026 season
TNT Sports and its streaming platform discovery+ will broadcast all 14 global events from the 2026 LIV Golf season.
TNT Sports is available across all major TV platforms, offering a line-up of up to four TV channels (TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports 2, TNT Sports 3, TNT Sports 4), and up to six digital or red-button channels (TNT Sports 5 to 10), and TNT Sports Ultimate plus TNT Sports Box Office HD.
You can subscribe to TNT Sports through discovery+, BT, EE, Sky, and Virgin Media.
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