PGA of America chief Seth Waugh says there has been "healthy back and forth" between OWGR and LIV Golf over latter's application to be awarded world ranking points - watch all four rounds of the PGA Championship live this week on Sky Sports Golf
Tuesday 16 May 2023 22:24, UK
PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh insists the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) is not "battling" LIV Golf over its application for world ranking points.
Waugh is one of the seven members of the OWGR board assessing the request from the Saudi-backed league.
Waugh said ahead of the PGA Championship, which is live on Sky Sports Golf from Thursday: "There has been healthy back and forth. It has not been acrimonious. We've responded, they've responded.
"This is not an us vs them. I think the OWGR, if you take a step back, the whole point is to create a level playing field, a yardstick by which to measure the game.
"Our job is to measure tours. Not players but tours and how they perform on those tours to come up with that yardstick. That's what we're all attempting to try to do.
"We've been, I think, very responsive to them in terms of their requests, and they've been responsive to us. It isn't some battle."
Waugh said he welcomed LIV players, such as Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka, to the PGA Championship and wants the atmosphere to be as cordial as it was at The Masters in April.
However, he remains unsure whether the LIV model will prove "sustainable" going forward.
Waugh added: "I am proud of The Masters because they returned civility to the game. That's how they dealt with it. That's how we want to deal with it. Everybody is our invited guest. That's consistent.
"I'll greet the players when I see them for sure. They're all invited to our dinner tonight, past champions. We're treating them in the way that we would treat everybody else. That's number one.
"When asked about the viability of [LIV] I'm going to be honest in the same way that I was three years ago.
"I'm not sure that it's a superior product and I'm not sure that it's a sustainable business model. Nothing has changed my mind about either of those things."
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