LIV Golf chief Atul Ghosla says it would be ‘silly’ if his tour are not given ranking points for their events

Continuing to deprive LIV Golf events of ranking points would be “silly”, believes the organisation’s Atul Ghosla.

Ghosla – chief operating officer of the controversial Saudi-backed breakaway tour – was speaking on the eve of The Open at St Andrews, an event which has brought into sharp relief some of the issues that are continuing to drive a wedge between LIV and golf’s existing tours.

That won’t be the last legal case that LIV generates, but Ghosla hopes in the first instance that the matter around ranking points can be solved.

He said: “They [the OWGR board] are there to ensure that appropriate points are given and they are being fair, otherwise it’s silly to see an event of our nature, in terms of the strength of field, not have OWGR points.

“It’s almost counter to what the OWGR is intended to do. They would be arguing against themselves.

“Our thinking is they are an independent body and in order to be independent and evaluate us, and others in the future, if you have a conflict you would have to recuse yourself from a vote.

“We finished up our application with their guidance. We will go through the process but we are working with them to get it expedited as fast as possible because our strength of field is only getting better.

“You take a discount because we are not playing 72 holes [LIV events are 54 holes] but from what I understand that’s minimal.”

Ghosla also reaffirmed LIV’s desire to carve themselves a niche in the golfing world, maintaining that they will seek to collaborate with the other organisations involved.

He said: “From day one we believed the players were independent contractors with the right to choose. It was good to see that as step one, the courts felt the same, but there will be other back and forths we have to work through.

“We are absolutely shaking up the ecosystem and hierarchy of golf. We are absolutely causing disruption.

“[But] we are not restricting players from playing in any place. We will find ways to work with both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.

“We are very open to that.”