Westwood’s contention that LIV’s continued exclusion from the rankings system makes it almost unfeasible for the rebels to qualify via the world’s top 50 – the way the majority of golfers earn their Masters berths – is impossible to disagree with, regardless of whether you subscribe to the “they-made-their-bed” viewpoint or not.
But the rankings – and specifically, the rankings overhaul in 2022 – has apparently also worked against British major interests and goes so far to accounting for the dwindling UK delegation.
In August 2022, it came into effect that points are awarded to all players who make the cut in a tournament and using a field-rating calculation based on a statistical evaluation of every player in the field, rather than just those ranked among the top 200 like before.
In simple terms that means the PGA Tour now receives more points for its events than previously, with the DP World Tour a much poorer relation. Essentially the mechanism favours the PGA Tour by reducing the points for winning on other Tours as well as in limited-field events.
Padraig Harrington, the 2020 Ryder Cup captain, said that the European circuit has been “hammered” by the changes and his successor Luke Donald appears to agree. “If you talk to statisticians they tell you it’s now fairer, but it does seem a bit off,” Donald told Telegraph Sport. “Maybe it was a little soft one way before and now it has gone too far in the other direction. They need to figure it out, because I don’t think it really puts a value on how difficult winning is, wherever a player wins and however big the field is.
“It looks harder than ever for some of our young guys to get into that world top 50 and from there into the biggest events.”
This includes the Masters and Poulter believes it takes the motivation away from the British hopefuls on the DP World Tour.
“When I first qualified for the Masters [in 2004] it was purely through my efforts on the European Tour,” he told Telegraph Sport. “If a young player compiled the same results now as I did then, they wouldn’t come close to entering the top 50. So that’s a route denied, just because people in Sawgrass wanted their Tour to be even more dominant.
“It’s a shame. Because never mind the players not fulfilling their dreams of playing Amen Corner, and realising they will now have to go to the US to have a chance, think about the kids watching at home. The Masters and seeing our Brit guys competing against the best was one of the reasons why people like me got into golf in such a big way.”