Adrian Meronk’s win at the 2022 Australian Open vaulted the Polish golfer into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking and all but locked up his first Masters invite for April. It also helped knock a familiar face from that OWGR status.
Meronk’s victory in Melbourne means Brooks Koepka is now projected to finish the year above that important threshold, according to OWGR guru Nosferatu on Twitter. And that it’s the first time Koepka will be out of the top 50 since he first moved in more than eight years ago.
https://twitter.com/VC606/status/1599441634642444288
Of course, this is nothing new with LIV Golf events still not eligible for world ranking points. Just last week, Sergio Garcia fell out of the top 100 for the first time since 1999. The new tour has been fighting for OWGR status, but has been denied thus far, even after partnering with the existing MENA Tour.
Fortunately for Koepka, this doesn’t mean much. Thanks to his most recent Major win, the 2019 PGA Championship, he is exempt for all Majors through 2024. And he has a lifetime exemption for the PGA and until 2028 at the US Open as a past champion. But another golfer who has been a fixture on Major championship leaderboards in recent years isn’t so fortunate.
That would be Louis Oosthuizen, who fell from No.50 to 51st overnight. The South African has a lifetime exemption into the Open Championship as the 2010 winner, but now isn’t qualified for any of the other three Majors in 2023. He is playing in this week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa, though, so he still has a chance to end the year inside the top 50.
Oosthuizen had a rough year in the Majors this year, but finished in the top three in four of five Majors starting with the 2020 US Open. He famously poked fun at himself for so many close calls with a lip-syncing video in 2017 after completing the career Grand Slam – of runner-ups.
Other LIV notables to drop in the OWGR include Dustin Johnson, who is down to 40th, and Kevin Na, down to 47th. Cameron Smith remained at No.3 thanks in part to his recent Australian PGA win, but has said not being able to climb to No.1 (unless he adds more OWGR-sanctioned events to his schedule) “is a bit of a pain in the bum”. On the bright side for the Queenslander, he’s into every Major through at least 2027 after his Open Championship win in July.
