The era of the 54-hole format in LIV Golf is over now. Maybe now, it will unlock OWRG access, and LIV golfers will get an equal platform to rank themselves? Many remain hazy about it; one of them is Carlos Ortiz. As he puts it, there’s hope, but also a lingering skepticism.

“I mean, honestly, at this point, we’ve been saying that for the last four years. I honestly don’t care, you know?” he said without any scope of diplomacy. “For me, if I get into the Majors, that’s the important thing. I mean, if we can get OWGR to help with that, it would be great. But if not…I don’t think really anybody cares. I think saying that you’re whatever rank in the world is more of an ego thing,” Ortiz told Flushing It.

“The only thing is that through OWGR, that’s how you get into majors… That’s pretty much the only way we can really get spots into Majors. Instead of only getting one, maybe we can get a few more. So I don’t know. I’m actually hopeful,” he added. “We know that the OWGRs are skewed,” he said. “I’m not saying it was perfect before, but it’s definitely not perfect right now… Some players should be ranked better, and they’re not.”

That’s as sharp as the LIV player could get. For most of them, these world ranking points were never about bragging rights. They were the mandatory gateway into the major events. Without OWGR, LIV players have been drawn out of those fields. If they were contesting, it was due to rare exemptions or past-champion categories. But even with this hopeful situation, Ortiz is not convinced that the fundamental problem of the OWGR will be solved anytime soon. The system itself, he argued, is structurally out of balance. This argument has been raised several times before as well. Jon Rahm was one of the first to hammer this system.

Back in 2022, he called OWGR “laughable” after the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic. The 156-man event, without a single top-25 player, ended up awarding 38 points to its winner. While the DP World Tour Championship, which was packed with seven top-25 players, offered barely 22 points. Interestingly, just a year later, Rahm switched to LIV. And these are not just LIV players’ complaints.

Tiger Woods, too, called out the system’s “flaw.” “Yeah, OWGR, it’s a flawed system. That’s something we all here recognize.” Deliberating on that, Ortiz goes further in the podcast, “We’re not even ranked properly. So we’re going to be playing with people that should be ranked better, and they’re not. You know what I mean? It’s kind of like a tough situation.”

Ortiz states clearly that the OWGR has been taking sides, with no hesitation. While he does clear the air by admitting players like Scottie Scheffler deserve to be on top, he’s also sure that there are several who are not worthy of the points they currently hold. This criticism is obviously not new. Players like Rahm have fallen deep into the ranks (74th), despite remaining one of the best players. Only because LIV victories did not count for the OWGR. Yet, he did appreciate the format overhaul once it was announced.

This catch-22 has been spelled out recently by Rory McIlroy, too. His argument was simple: LIV’s 72-hole wouldn’t magically fix its ranking crisis, because players have fallen deep down. That’s an ugly paradox. LIV Golf needed OWGR points to stay ‘relevant,’ but even if it gets them now, it won’t move the needle fast enough.

In fact, even small field sizes are also the reasons for the ranking hurdles. It cannot compete with 150-plus-man PGA Tour fields (ironically, the PGA Tour itself is reducing its field size to a hundred). A weak 125- or 150-player event can outscore a strong 54- or 57-player field. LIV, though, is working to address them now, but the concern persists.

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LIV Golf’s next big change is another push towards a traditional model

The Saudi-backed league’s shift to a 72-hole format in 2026 is only the beginning of a wider overhaul, if one were to believe Carlos Ortiz. Speaking on the same podcast, Ortiz explained that adding an extra round will not fundamentally change the on-course experience for players. “I feel almost like the practice days are harder and more tiring on the body than the actual days of play,” he says. But still, these changes he frames are necessary.

These are concessions that are designed to align LIV more with golf’s broader ecosystem, and of course, to secure OWGR points. “I just see it as a compromise that we have to do if we want to be a part of the ecosystem. And I’m all for it.”

More concessions are coming in, Ortiz hints further. He revealed that LIV’s roster is likely to grow in the coming years. This is going to be a direct response to OWGR’s field-size weighting, which awards more points to larger tournaments, regardless of the quality of players.

“Now we’re working to find that middle point where it’s not what they want or what we want. It’s just what it should be, and we’re working towards that,” he said.