“It’s becoming ridiculous” - Golf fans express outrage as OWGR system appears ‘broken’ amidst PGA Tour-DP World Tour points fiasco

The points system used by the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) was back in the spotlight on Tuesday. The debate was reignited by the release of the points awarded for the final events of the season on both the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.

The OWGR announced that the tournament that closes the PGA Tour's fall season, the RSM Classic, will award 38.74470 points for first place. It was announced as well that the DP World Tour Championship, which closes the year on the European circuit, will award 27.71108 points to the champion.

This distribution was received by fans with mixed opinions. Those criticizing the system claimed that the DP World Tour Championship should receive more points due to the fact that its field will include three of today's four best players (Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, and Viktor Hovland).

Those who approved of the way the OWGR works claimed that the PGA Tour's RSM Classic field is stronger than the European Tour Championship field, despite the presence of the aforementioned players in the latter.

Let's see some of the reactions on social network X (ex Twitter):

"We know OWGR is broken - if you claim it is a valid system then you are being political and not honest."

"Why would a feeder tour get equal points to its aspiring big brother Tour?"

Fans' opinions on X.

The RSM Classic will have a full field, i.e. 156 players. The DP World Tour Championship will have only the top 50 players of the season.

How does the OWGR work?

The OWGR uses a complicated points system that tries to take into account all the aspects that affect each golf tournament. This includes the size of the field, the players in the field, the course, etc.

The first fact is that not all golf tournaments that take place earn points for the world rankings. Tournaments held outside the 24 "eligible" circuits are not counted.

For each tournament, a "Field Rating" is determined, which in turn is the amount of points distributed to players based on their location. The Field Rating is calculated based on each participating player's place in the Stroke Gained World Rating.

Eligible tournament formats are Stroke Play, Match Play and various combinations of the two. As a general rule, only individual events receive points.

The OWGR processes the points distribution for each tournament based on each player's finishes, ties, etc. The distribution is in descending order, with the highest total going to the winner and the lowest from there. Only players who make the cut will receive points.

However, there are exceptions for special tournaments and reduced field tournaments. These events must follow a protocol in order to receive points for the world rankings. An example of this is the Hero World Challenge, which will be taking place next December.