Thursday’s announcement that the European Tour would resume its schedule in late July brings the competitive calendar into focus, but it remains unclear when the Official World Golf Ranking will resume.
When the COVID-19 pandemic halted golf in March, the OWGR was quick to respond of the world’s professional tours and the ranking was frozen.
With the PGA Tour’s scheduled return to competition next month at the Charles Schwab Challenge now becoming more of a reality, the question is whether the ranking will also restart on June 11?
“There are still meetings going on about the best way to address the world-ranking situations,” said European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley. “We had a meeting of the board earlier on this week. We have another one [scheduled], and it would therefore be inappropriate for me to comment on the situation at this time. But I am sure, utterly positive, that there will be an update regarding the world rankings within the next seven days.”
At issue is whether the ranking should resume with the PGA Tour while nearly every other worldwide circuit, including the European Tour until late July, is paused because of the pandemic. The fear is that such a move would create a competitive disadvantage for players on other tours.
The ranking has been on pause since March 16, with Rory McIlroy in his eighth career stint at world No. 1. He sits ahead of No. 2 Jon Rahm, No. 3 Brooks Koepka, No. 4 Justin Thomas and No. 5 Dustin Johnson.