Initially, LIV Golf, a unique circuit because of its competition system and its limitation to only 54 players per event, fought for its tournaments to be valued by the world ranking. Everything was a stumbling block for a new model that was considered too closed to be legitimized. At some point LIV stopped fighting this battle and decided to preserve its format, also waiting for the PGA and the PIF (Saudi Arabia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund) to reach an agreement.
In view of this, it does not matter in terms of the ranking that Jon Rahm finished second in the LIV tournament in Riyadh and sixth in Adelaide, or that he was the champion last season on the 54-hole circuit. This situation has caused the ‘Lion of Barrika’ to drop this week to 52nd place, so that for the first time since 2017, he is out of the world’s top 50, where he entered when he won the Farmers that year.
Falling out of the top 50 is not just symbolic, as tournaments such as The Masters and The Open, among their many exemptions, set their cut-off point in terms of the world ranking. Today, Rahm has no problem with the majors, but it should be remembered that when he left for LIV, he was vying with Scheffler for the top spot
The Spaniard has started to score more thanks to the fact that he can now play DP World Tour tournaments (until his appeal is resolved), but the only real way to climb quickly is through good results in the majors. Last year, he missed the cut at the Masters and the PGA Championship, for example, but he was seventh at the British Open and fifth at the Olympic Games. His performance on the DPWT is not bad, but these tournaments are far from scoring like any one on the PGA Tour.
The highest-ranked player on the Saudi-backed circuit is Tyrrell Hatton (8th), while DeChambeau is 13th thanks to his good performances in the majors. It is logical that Rahm’s decline will continue, as most of the LIV stars have already fallen. His real rise will not begin until Augusta.
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