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Tiger Woods announced his withdrawal from the Hero World Challenge on Monday. With this, the golfer lost the chance to jump 1,000 places in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR). Now, the golfer has come forward to slam the ranking system itself.
Woods on Tuesday became the newest name frustrated with the revamped golf rankings. Following the likes of Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy, the ace golfer came out to call it a “flawed system.” Slamming the rankings, the 15-time major winner said that the system didn’t have equality in points distribution.
Speaking about the OWGR system to the media at the Hero World Challenge pre-tournament press conference, Tiger Woods said:
“It's a flawed system. That's something we all here recognize… The field at Dubai [the DP World Tour Championship] got less points than Sea Island [RSM Classic] and more of the top players were there in Dubai, so obviously there's a flawed system.”
Woods’ criticism of the system echoed Jon Rahm’s words from last week. The Spaniard called the OWGR “laughable” after stating that the competition with better-ranked players had lower points on offer.
Tiger Woods calls for meetings to fix the ranking system
Despite the harsh criticism, Tiger Woods didn’t seem to have the right answer on how to fix it. Having slammed OWGR for its shortcomings, Woods said that the officials must "hold meetings" to resolve the issue. The ace golfer said that the system has changed multiple times in the past for the better.
Woods added:
“How do you fix it? You know, those are meetings we're going to have to have. We're going to have to have it with the World Golf committee and as well as our—the main tours that are involved in it, somehow [need] to come up with a better system than is in place now."
He continued:
I remember in my career, when I … I had a big lead in my career, I didn't have to play a single tournament the next year, and I still would be ranked No. 1. We changed that system then. So it has been changed in the past and I'm sure this will be changed hopefully soon.”
Jon Rahm called the OWGR system ‘a joke’
Earlier last week, Jon Rahm came forward to call the OWGR system “a joke.” The DP World Tour Championship winner’s comments came after he stayed in his No. 5 World Ranking despite winning the event. He said that the system was “laughable.”
Speaking to the media in Dubai, Rahm said:
“I’m going to be as blunt as I can… I think the OWGR right now is laughable. Laughable. Laughable. The fact that the RSM doesn’t have any of the top 25 in the world and has more points than this event where we have seven of the top 25 is laughable. The fact that Wentworth [the BMW PGA Championship] had less points than Napa [the PGA Tour’s Fortinet Championship] despite having players in the top 10 in the world is laughable.”
It is pertinent to note that OWGR has been under fire ever since the inception of LIV Golf. The Saudi-backed circuit failed to meet most of the rankings' prerequisites for approval and thus stays out of the system. This brought a lot of criticism as some of the top players currently play in the rebel series.
