LIV Golf Tour Triggers Memories of McCormack’s Creation of Official World Golf Rankings System

Among the controversial issues surrounding the recent launch of the LIV Golf tour is whether those who defected from the PGA Tour to the LIV will be able to accumulate points in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) system. And, if it has to do with golf, we know the odds are high that a backstory can be found in the Mark H. McCormack archives housed within the Special Collections and University Archives department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst library system.

 As part of his growing influence within the world of professional golf, Mark McCormack had begun self-publishing his own professional golf player rankings in the mid-1960s. However, by the early 1980s, McCormack recognized that the sport was ripe for, and in dire need of, a truly independent professional golf ranking system. As a result, the Championship Committee of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrew’s partnered with McCormack and his sports marketing agency IMG, combining resources and mathematical models to create the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) system. OWGR awards points based on golfers’ successes in recent events, across accredited international tours and playing formats. The more points accumulated by a professional golfer, the higher profile events they can be invited to, such as the four men’s major championships.

In order to cover the costs of the computer program and the human analysts needed to supervise it, McCormack and IMG worked to find a corporate sponsor to attach their name to the rankings.  One of the earliest proposals went to Panasonic. This document compares the golf rankings ideal with the already-established ATP rankings, which were sponsored by Atari at that time, and details the amount of financial backing requested from Panasonic to rename the young ranking system to the Panasonic Golf Ranking System.

Also included in the proposal was a look at the rankings, as calculated by the system and sponsored by IMG’s first choice sponsor. A few weeks after this proposal was submitted, the rankings were updated based on recent performance and expanded to include the Top 60 professionals. While Seve Ballesteros is still listed as the best player, the rest of the top 10 has completely changed!

The second stop IMG made was to pitch Sony on sponsoring the world golf rankings. Initially interested, Sony had some follow-up questions, mostly about additional activation money IMG estimated they would need to invest in making the partnership a fruitful one. Based on the questions asked, readers can infer Sony was imagining how to leverage an on-site activation for a printed and published list, made by an intangible product.

Meanwhile, McCormack was already looking at a long-term plan for the international rankings. He wanted quick expansion into the women’s game, as well as region-specific services for governing boards, and he wanted them ready to go “prior to the announcement of the men’s Sony arrangement.” 

Finally, on April 8, 1986, IMG announced the publication of the first Sony Golf Ranking. The press release included the grading details and explained how golfers would collect points based on the international events they participated in during the season. It’s interesting note the Sony Golf Rankings were based on a rolling three-year period of points gathering, which still holds true today. This is the reason why members of LIV Golf continue to be included in the Official World Golf Ranking, even though they have not collected any accredited points all season.

Of course, no initial professional golf ranking would be complete without the list of players and their accumulated points in the first place! After weeks of preliminary drafts predicting Ballesteros as Number 1, Bernhard Langer overtook him in the official announcement.

With sponsorship secured, IMG’s next hurdle was to legitimize the Sony Golf Rankings.  he Royal Golf Club of St. Andrew’s in Scotland had already committed to using the system as a means to invite participants for the British Open Championship, but there were still three other major tournaments who had not promised anything yet.

After the original release and its subsequent weekly updates, McCormack heard from a source inside the US Golf Association that the organization wanted to endorse the rankings. This was a pivotal moment for the partnership since it meant all four men’s major tournaments would defer to the Sony Golf Rankings as the pinnacle of their sport.

While there has been a name change and IMG no longer has any behind-the-scenes, boots-on-the-ground connection with the OWGR, the system McCormack helped spearhead in the early 1980’s is still the mathematical approach taken to naming the best golf players today. As to whether those participating on the LIV Golf tour will be included, the jury remains out.