LIV Golf has applied again to be included in the Official World Golf Ranking, without any indication how it will operate differently from when their first application was rejected nearly two years ago.
The OWGR said in a statement Friday it had received the application and has started the review process to determined if the Saudi-funded league of 54 players would be included.
“The OWGR Board is committed to a thorough evaluation process of all applications, and LIV’s application will be reviewed in accordance with OWGR’s criteria to ensure fairness, integrity and consistency,” the OWGR said in a statement.
The OWGR board has an annual meeting next week at the British Open.
The OWGR denied the first application in October 2023 — the first full year of the league — saying it could not fairly measure LIV Golf with two dozen other tours around the world because of what amounted to a closed shop, along with the individual competition potentially being compromised by scores counting toward a team result.
LIV now has 54 players — 13 four-man teams and two wild cards — and keeps the roster all season except for alternates used in case of injury.
Other tours have various forms of qualifying that allow for changes in the field among a larger membership. LIV began a “promotions” event that offered three spots at the end of 2023, but that was reduced to one spot last year. The leader of the Asian Tour’s International Series also gets a spot in LIV provided he’s not already a member.
World ranking points have been seen as critical to LIV because the four majors — all of which have a seat on the OWGR board — use the ranking to help determined the field. The U.S. Open and British Open this year added a category for top LIV performers. The Masters and PGA Championship use invitations at their discretion to get whom they consider deserving.
LIV, which once tried to get ranking points by becoming part of the MENA Tour in Africa, formally withdrew its first application in May 2024.
Scott O'Neil has replaced Greg Norman as CEO of the Saudi league. He met with Trevor Immelman, the new OWGR chairman at the Masters this year, and Immelman told the AP he has spoken a few times on the phone with O'Neil.
O'Neil in a statement thanked Immelman for his “willingness to move the sport of golf forward for the benefit of all players and most importantly, the fans.”
“LIV Golf is committed to working together with the Official World Golf Ranking and its board to ensure the very best players are competing in the game’s most prestigious events,” O'Neil said. “We are confident our application addresses the outstanding questions that exist to support a more global, all-encompassing, and accurate ranking system.”
O'Neil said he hoped the approval process can go through before the 2026 major season.
Immelman had said the rejection letter sent to LIV in October 2023 was “quite clear” with the position the board had at the time and any change would start with LIV applying anew.
“We appreciate the interest of LIV Golf — and all the tours — in contributing to the global landscape of men’s professional golf through OWGR,” the statement said.
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Captain Sergio Garcia, of Fireballs GC, hits his shot from the 10th tee during the second round of LIV Golf Dallas at Maridoe Golf Club , Saturday, June 28, 2025 in Carrollton, Texas. (LIV Golf via AP)
ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.
Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
