‘Flawed’ OWGR system needs fixing, says Tiger Woods

By Rahul Banerji

Fifteen-time major winner Tiger Woods feels it is time changes were effected in the Official World Golf Rankings to make the heavily-criticised system more representative.

Speaking to the media ahead of the Hero World Challenge at Albany in the Bahamas, Woods said, “Yeah, OWGR, it’s a flawed system. That’s something we all here recognise.

“The field at Dubai (for the DP World Tour Championship) got less points than Sea Island (RSM Classic on the PGA Tour) and more of the top players were there in Dubai, so obviously there’s a flawed system.

“How do you fix it? Those are the meetings we’re going to have to have,” a statement from the organisers quoted Woods as saying.

For some time now the OWGR has been under fire and came under sharper attack from world number five Jon Rahm after he won the Dubai event.

The burly Spaniard called OWGR “laughable” after he failed to advance by even one place despite beating a quality field while the parallel PGA Tour event with a lesser field handed out many more ranking points to participants.

“I remember when I had a big lead in my career. I didn’t have to play a single tournament the next year and I still would be ranked no. 1,: Woods recalled.

Set precedent

“We changed that system then. So it has been changed in the past and I’m sure this will be changed hopefully soon.”

Event sponsor Dr Pawan Munjal of Hero MotoCorp and a keen golfer himself, added, “India’s young star, Yuvraj Sandhu has won some five events on the Indian Tour but has barely got any points.

“That’s the kind of flaw that need to be changed in the system.”

Woods was to be a part of the Hero World Challenge field but was a late withdrawal with severe foot inflammation and pain from a condition called plantar fascilitis.

Tiger though was pleased to see young talent like Joohyung ‘Tom’ Kim of South Korea make a mark so early in his career, adding that the system needed to facilitate more such transitions.

“New young players like Tom can basically come out of nowhere and that’s what’s going to happen to you with the fields getting so much younger, guys understand that they can win right away.

“We need to provide them access to our tour so that they can display that because they can do it at an early age.

Curious about Kim

“To be honest, I’ve never met him. I’m curious, because I wasn’t at the

President’s cup when he played, and I didn’t.

“I didn’t play anything, where he was playing except at the British Open this year, but we were different times on opposite sides of the wave (draw).

“So, I’ve never got a chance to see him in person or meet him or shake his hand. I’m looking forward to this year welcoming to the Hero World Challenge. And thank him for playing.”

Tiger did manage a ‘competitive’ swing’ even if it was only in the “Hero Shot’ competition ahead of the main event that tees off on Thursday.

The tournament host was, however, eliminated early in the competition that saw Matt Fitzpatrick beat young debutant Kim to the title

Fitzpatrick found a bullseye hit on the tricky, 87-yard shot into the wind at the shootout also featured Justin Thomas, Max Homa, Tommy Fleetwood, and Billy Horschel.

Competitors were required to hit balls onto a floating target in a pond between the ninth and 18^th greens at Albany. 

Also read: Tiger forced out of Hero World Challenge with injured foot