I read something similar from another source, so not sure if Golf Digest and others all got it wrong or not. Players will need to approve it anyways so at this point it appears to be merely a proposal on the table.

Saw a rumour that LIV was applying for OWGR, if that happens how many more players make the jump?

Its not a rumor Norman confirms it in the interview posted earlier. The application is already in

not sure who the ppl behind the curtain are for the OWGR, but it will be a jopke if they award points to a series of 54 hole exhibitions. Monahan missed the opportunity to pound the word "exhibition" in his presser earlier this week.

Monahan desperately needs the DP World Tour to suspend these defectors sometime this month.

Liv is a joke. I mean good for guys like Hennie du Plessis and Charl Schwartzel cashing a winning lottery ticket... but for golf fans there is absolutely nothing to care about. Literally the only thing interesting about it, is the amount of money mediocre or worse players can make. The Saudis could have all these guys do an Iron Chef cooking competition and it would be essentially the same, that's how little the golf matters. The only story line is the money.

Hold it they award points for Tiger's Invitational event so why not these?

The 54 hole and exhibition stuff are weak arguments.

Points eventually will be given based on course rating, wind conditions, player performance, etc. for pro events. Think analytics modeling.

It feels like the purist think nothing needs to change. If that's the case, this will be a 2 year dark spot in the history of golf which will be challenged again in 10 years. PGA is just trying to protect the monopoly, I mean history.

the Hero World Challenge is 72 holes

WTF do course rating and wind conditions have to do with awarding OWGR points? If the wind doesn't blow this week at The Travelers they should deduct points?

I see eventually point/ranking system for performance vs the mean (expected). I'm sure analytics people have already done this type of calculation. As talent is more dispersed, there will become an accepted model to measure/compare performance across various tours in a given week.

I'm sorry, but don't they already do this? Ranking points available at most tournaments throughout the world are based on strength of field. Example, more points available at The Travelers this week on the PGA Tour than at this week's Asian Tour stop, the Korean Open.

They should kick off golfers once they reach a stroke limit. Last golfer standing wins.

As long as LIV events get approved and the LIV players arent shut out of opportunities to get points, it's fine. PGA will try to screw these guys and push any partners as hard as they can to hurt LIV based on past actions.

sources say LIV golfers will be banned from playing in next month's DP World Tour Scottish Open (7/7 - 7/10).

this is a co-sanctioned event bt the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, so we still don't know which way the DP World Tour will fall on the LIV issue.

How do you keep someone out of an Open and still call it an Open?

pretty straightforward. the tournament is open to members of the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour as a co-sanctioned event. the event organizers aren't keeping anyone out that is eligible to play.

A true Open allows anyone in who qualifies, including amateurs. And most Opens have qualifying tournaments for those not otherwise eligible. That is what being "open" means. You or I could play if we could qualify. Eliminating LIV players because they are LIV players makes it not an Open event. They should maybe change name to Scottish Closed.

That’s not what Open means, in theory if it’s an Open there would be qualifiers or some means for other people to get in the field.

Every Open I have ever heard about has qualifiers that anyone can enter to get a spot if they meet certain criteria, including US and British Opens. For example, British Open local qualifying:
Local Qualifying:
Local qualifying begins with 13 events, of 36 holes occurring on a single day just over three weeks before the Open Championship. It is open to those who meet any of the following criteria:

Male professional golfer.
Male amateur golfer whose playing handicap does not exceed 0.4 (i.e. scratch).
Male amateur golfer who has been within World Amateur Golf Ranking listing 1–2,000 during the current calendar year.
Female golfer who finished in the top 5 and ties in the latest edition of any of the five women's majors.
A week later, the best performers then progress to final qualifying, where there are four events of 36 holes occurring on a single day, with three qualifiers from each event.

So, not easy to qualify this way, but possible. And, the biggest thing for male amateurs is the handicap requirement, so I was wrong about someone like me being able to compete because my handicap sucks. But, no one is excluded from being able to attempt to qualify. Everyone on LIV meets these requirements just by virtue of being male professional golfers.

I think what you are missing is that these players are/will no longer be eligible for exemption.

I’m guessing if these players decided to go through qualification, it would be hard to justify preventing them from playing an open.

I agree with you, I am not missing anything, I am just saying they can't be outright banned. And even going through qualifying is hard no matter how good you are. Most wouldn't be motivated by most Opens, maybe US and British, though. And they can't take away all exemptions as has already been discussed.

Just for fun, I pulled up the PGA Tour schedule from 2013, events included:

Sony Open
Farmer's Insurance Open
Waste Management Phoenix Open
Northern Trust Open
Puerto Rico Open
Shell Houston Open
Reno-Tahoe Open

And yes, these events have Monday qualifiers with 4 spots available.

So for example, let's use Dustin Johnson. He was eligible for the Scottish Open based on various PGA Tour criteria. But wait, he's not a PGA Tour member any more, he resigned. In doing so this wipes all stats off the board. So he's no longer exempt. Now the really interesting decision would come if he tried to Monday qualify his way in, would he be allowed to do so?

As a related tangent, here's an example from my neck of the woods in the DFW area. Guy I know is an excellent player, played in the PGA a couple of times. But he made some mistakes and is now banned from this and probably all other PGA sections. Local PGA sections run the Monday qualifiers for all PGA Tour events. So even though he's more than capable, he's not even allowed to enter PGA Tour qualifiers. He is however allowed to enter USGA qualifiers.

So yes, there are things you can do that strip you of the ability to play in seemingly open events. If a player is suspended by the tour for something like a failed drug test, he is not allowed to compete in the Reno-Tahoe Open even though it's an open. The Scottish Open (like the events listed above) is nowhere like the US Open and Open Championship which are conducted by the USGA and R&A respectively. The Scottish Open is a tour sponsored event that follows the rules of the tour.

Cliffs, opens still have rules.

edit - bloody hell, for the second time this week my pony is slow. Age is finally catching up I suppose. Young ****ers.

Sure they can, and they will. I don't think anyone at the PGA Tour will lose a single minute of sleep over whether their events meet the technical definition (or for that matter your definition) of the word "Open".

Besides, as LIV and the new PGA events teach us, the future is Closeds.

Invite only and no cut and limited field sounds like a LIV event

saw where the OWGR has a tour must "demonstrate viability over a 12-month period" before even receiving consideration.

if this is the case and it is not circumvented, LIVtard rankings are going to atrophy regardless of what happens in the near term.