LIV Golf players were more than happy to take the payday on offer when joining the breakaway tour, although many of them have not been pleased with some of the consequences of that decision.
Some golfers were miffed that they could no longer feature on the PGA Tour or DP World Tour, while they have also been excluded from Ryder Cup selection for the foreseeable future.
The way in which world rankings are formulated has also been a a bugbear for many. As things stand, LIV Golf events do not grant any world ranking points, meaning players on that tour will inevitably start to tumble down the standings as times goes on. Their place in major championships could be under threat in the future as a result, especially for those who have not previously won one of the showpiece events in the sport.
Some players are now calling for a change in this respect.
Phil Mickelson & Bryson DeChambeau question golf world rankings
Bryson DeChambeau was among the first big names players to move to LIV Golf and he has now demanded that the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) system be amended to accommodate the new tour.
Speaking ahead of their tournament in Singapore, he said that the rankings as currently constructed are 'not accurate'.
You should realise that the OWGR is not accurate. I think that they need to come to a resolution, or it will become obsolete.
It's pretty much almost obsolete as of right now. But again, if the majors and everything continue to have that as their ranking system, then they are biting it quite heavily.
I'd very disappointing that that's the way it goes because it's not right, and I hope people can see through that. It's disappointing that somebody takes such a hard stance.
Phil Mickelson holds a similar view.
He believes that the organisers of the four majors will not want to lose the LIV Golf players from their tournaments, believing that this makes a change to the qualifying structure inevitable.
.@PhilMickelson speaks on major championships finding other ways to include #LIVGolf players if OWGR isn't going to adapt to the new landscape:
"...it's in the best interest of everybody, especially the tournaments, the majors, to have the best players." pic.twitter.com/EEyQtFNofQ— LIV Golf Updates (@LIVGolfUpdates) April 26, 2023
It's going to all iron itself out because if you're one of the majors, if you're The Masters, you're not looking at 'we should keep these guys out'.
You're saying to yourself, 'we want to have the best field, we want to have the best players, and these guys added a lot to the tournament this year at The Masters. How do we get them included?'
We have to come up with a qualifying mechanism that is inclusive, and if the World Golf Ranking isn't going to be inclusive, then they have to find another way.
Maybe they take the top five or top 10 or winners of LIV, but they're going to have to find a way to get the best LIV players in their field if they want to have the best field in golf and be really what a major championship is about...
If the World Golf Rankings doesn't find a way to be inclusive, then the majors will just find another way to include LIV because it's no longer a credible way.
So it will all iron itself out for the simple reason that it's in the best interest of everybody, especially the tournaments, the majors, to have the best players.
It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out.
It is true that some tournaments will not want to exclude big names players from their fields, but it is also difficult to see the golfing authorities accommodating LIV Golf players considering the way the new tour has upset the established order in the sport.
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