How Can LIV Golfers Win DP World Tour Events

A very strange thing happened at the South African Open and Australian Open. They were won by Dean Burmester and Joaquin Niemann respectively. And then at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, we saw Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel battling it out for top honours.

You may well wonder what is so strange about that. The South African Open and Alfred Dunhill are jointly run by the DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour. The Australian Open is run by the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour of Australia.

Burmester also won the Joburg Open the week before. Now take a look at the Race to Dubai. He should be sitting on top but you will not find his name anywhere. And neither will you find the name of Niemann, Oosthuizen or Schwartzel.

The reason? They are all LIV Golf members and, as such, have no status on the DP World Tour. 

However, if you take a look at the Sunshine Tour’s order of merit, who do you think is leading the way? I will help you - it is Dean Burmester.

Are you as confused as I am? Because I definitely am. If somebody wins a jointly-sanctioned tournament but has been suspended by one of the bodies that runs that event, how on earth can that same golfer be recognised by the other organising body?

It makes no sense to me whatsoever.

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

You will also be aware that world ranking points are not awarded at LIV Golf tournaments. The justification for this is that they promote 54-hole tournaments with no cut and restricted fields.

But guess what? Burmester, Niemann, Oosthuizen and Schwartzel were all awarded ranking points for their performances.

Before his two victories, Burmester was ranked 126th in the world. He is now up to 77.

I want to make it perfectly clear that I have no problem with these guys gaining ranking points. My issue is with the mind-boggling inconsistency of it all. 

Unless they paid a fine and rejoined the DP World Tour, Burmester, Oosthuizen and Schwartzel would not be allowed to play in any tournament run solely by the DP World Tour. So why are they able to compete in jointly-sanctioned tournaments?

I should also point out that his win at the Joburg Open secured Burmester a place in the field for the 2024 Open Championship. Niemann also gets an Open berth as a result of his success in Australia.

Is it any wonder that people looking in from the outside are left scratching their heads as they try to work out what on earth is going on.

This week’s Mauritius Open sees Oosthuizen in the field. He gets into the field because it is another tournament that is co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour and the DP World Tour. If he wins he gets more Sunshine Tour ranking points but will not be recognised by the DP World Tour.

And so it goes on…

It is a complete and utter nonsense!