{"id":458792,"date":"2026-02-04T22:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T22:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/458792\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T22:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T22:52:09","slug":"prize-money-slashed-for-new-season-owgr-decision-reaction-from-jon-rahm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/458792\/","title":{"rendered":"Prize money slashed for new season, OWGR decision reaction from Jon Rahm"},"content":{"rendered":"

LIV Golf has quietly slashed the end-of-season windfall given to its best individual player in the midst of discontent over this week\u2019s controversial world rankings ruling<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Saudi-backed league\u2019s four-year battle to be recognised by golf\u2019s peak world ranking body finally produced a favourable result, albeit with a catch. <\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

The Official World Golf Ranking will hand out world-ranking points to LIV Golf events for the first time this season, but only to the top 10 finishers. <\/p>\n

It means that coming 11th in a LIV event is the same as finishing 57th \u2014 a call that LIV said was \u201cunprecedented\u201d and \u201cdisproportionately harms players who consistently perform at a high level but finish just outside that threshold\u201d.<\/p>\n

Just hours before that statement, however, LIV Golf released its media guide for the new season with some key details that were largely overshadowed by the OWGR call. <\/p>\n

This year, LIV Golf\u2019s $18m (A$26m) end-of-season bonus payout to the winner of the season has been drastically cut to $6m (A$8.5m), with second claiming $3m and third $1m.<\/p>\n

Instead, more money will be poured into the weekly prize pot for teams. Each week, the overall prize money payout for teams will double from $5 million to $10 million.<\/p>\n

It means that LIV Golf\u2019s biggest stars, like Jon Rahm who won the past two individual crowns, can expect to take home less prize overall prize money, unless their team regularly wins events. <\/p>\n

The decision adds further intrigue to the future of LIV, which is dealing with the departures of Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed, is at risk of losing Bryson DeChambeau, and is furious by not being fully recognised by the OWGR. <\/p>\n

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Under the decision, LIV Golf events will be ranked as \u201csmall tournament fields\u201d, meaning that they will not be awarded the full allotment seen on the PGA or DP World Tours.<\/p>\n

Not only will players outside the top-10 finishers not get any points, but the winner this week in Saudi Arabia is projected to win 23 \u2014 less than half of winners of full-field PGA Tour events. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fantastic that we\u2019re getting points. It\u2019s fantastic that we\u2019re being recognised in a way. With that said, I don\u2019t like how we\u2019re not being treated the same as every other tour,\u201d Rahm said in Riyadh on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like the rules that have been in place aren\u2019t really applied to us, with only 10 of us getting points. It doesn\u2019t seem fair. There are small fields out there throughout the course of the year that get full points. Or full players get points, right? So, there\u2019s work to be done. There\u2019s work to be done. <\/p>\n

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\u201cWhile it\u2019s good for some people. It could cost some players to actually lose world ranking points, instead of gain them. Because finishing in 11th is basically a missed cut and we\u2019re already adding to the devisor. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m thankful that LIV golf got their foot in the door, and there\u2019s a possibility for us to walk in the room and be recognised as as a tour, as we should be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision slightly opens the door for LIV Golf players to play themselves into the four majors based on their world ranking, albeit with a significant restriction.<\/p>\n

That is despite LIV Golf\u2019s decision to expand its 54-hole format to 72 holes from this year. <\/p>\n

LIV Golf said in a statement that it had been handed a \u201clong\u2011overdue moment of recognition, which affirms the fundamental principle that performance on the course should matter, regardless of where the competition takes place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the tour remains unsatisfied by the outcome. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo other competitive tour or league in OWGR history has been subjected to such a restriction,\u201d the statement said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a LIV Golf insider told The Telegraph<\/a> that the OWGR decision was a \u201cludicrous cop-out\u201d. <\/p>\n

Central to the OWGR\u2019s decision to not fully recognise LIV Golf events was the fact it still does not meet other crucial criteria, even after expanding to four-day tournaments.<\/p>\n

Their fields of just 57 players is still well below OWGR standards of at least 75, while the lack of a mid-tournament cut remains a roadblock.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the OWGR pointed out certain restrictions to players on the tour, pointing out some stars were \u201cself-selected\u201d rather than earning their spots, while others have lost out \u201cbased on their nationality rather than for meritocratic reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, Japan\u2019s Jinichiro Kozuma was dropped for this season despite finishing 32nd on the LIV Golf standings to make room for Iron Heads GC to be rebranded as Korean Golf Club.<\/p>\n

LIV Golf\u2019s four-year battle to be recognised by golf\u2019s peak world ranking body has finally produced a favourable result for the Saudi-backed tour, albeit with a catch.Source: AFP<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 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,\u201d OWGR chairman Trevor Immelman said in a statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe fully recognised the need to rank the top men\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to acknowledge the substantial and constructive efforts made by Scott O\u2019Neil and the team at LIV Golf. We look forward to working with them on implementing this approach with immediate effect for the 2026 LIV Golf season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the PGA Tour said: \u201cWe respect today\u2019s decision by the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) Governing Board and the considerable time the Board and Chairman Immelman committed to this process.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision adds further intrigue to the futures of Jon Rahm and out-of-contract Bryson DeChambeau, who is said to be leveraging the departures of Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed by demanding a $500 million deal to stay on LIV Golf after this season. <\/p>\n

Speaking after playing the pro-am in Riyadh on Tuesday, DeChambeau said he hadn\u2019t been able to \u201cdigest\u201d the OWGR decision, but added: \u201cAt least we were getting points, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

On his future, he said that there had been some \u201cprogress made\u201d on a new deal and that his intention was to stay on LIV Golf.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWe, again, are in negotiations, and I want what\u2019s best for the game of golf and for the league, ultimately. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe just have to continue to align. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd like I said from day one, if we can get to an alignment point, like there\u2019s no doubt that I\u2019ll be here next year. We just have to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

LIV Golf first sought OWGR points in July 2022, but was formally denied in October 2023. <\/p>\n

Its application was ultimately withdrawn in March 2024, but was resubmitted in July 2025. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LIV Golf has quietly slashed the end-of-season windfall given to its best individual player in the midst of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[236008,1724,64,63,936,6933,236016,236015,236020,236019,236010,235217,235211,236012,755,236017,42328,219902,236014,70796,235212,21396,236013,14640,85,236011,235214,37101,12000,29739,235216,125130,236018,236009],"class_list":["post-458792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-alignment-point","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bahrain","tag-bryson-dechambeau","tag-controversial-world-rankings","tag-decision-reaction","tag-double-standards-claim","tag-end-of-season-bonus-payout","tag-end-of-season-windfall","tag-favourable-result","tag-four-year-battle","tag-getting-points","tag-golf","tag-governing-board","tag-jacob-polychronis","tag-korean-golf-club","tag-media-guide","tag-patrick-reed","tag-peak-world-ranking","tag-prize-money","tag-prize-money-payout","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-sports","tag-superstar-hits","tag-tournament-fields","tag-trevor-immelman","tag-western-asia","tag-world-ranking","tag-world-ranking-body","tag-world-ranking-points","tag-world-rankings-ruling","tag-worst-play"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}