Brooks Koepka’s wife congratulates LIV golfers for earning world ranking points

It appears LIV Golf might have solved one of its major problems and found a way for players to earn world ranking points by playing in its events.

Amid reports surfacing on Wednesday that LIV has found a loophole in golf’s rules, Brooks Koepka’s wife, the actress and model Jena Sims, posted a video of a pre-tournament event on her Instagram story with the caption ‘Congratulations to these guys, getting World Golf Ranking Points this week’.

LIV is in Thailand for its latest three-day event and Sims posted a picture of a stage packed with players who have joined the breakaway circuit.

Brooks Koepka’s wife, Jena Sims, put a video of a pre-tournament LIV event on her Instagram story captioned: ‘Congratulations to these guys, getting World Golf Ranking Points this week’.

The lack of ranking points on offer was perhaps LIV’s biggest weakness in its first year. It meant players would soon slip out of contention to compete in the Majors unless they were exempt from their world ranking based on previous Grand Slam victories.

The post by Sims comes as a report in The Telegraph also claims LIV players will now start to earn ranking points.

It says LIV has essentially become part of the little-known MENA Tour – a circuit for tournaments in North Africa and Asia – which is acknowledged and accepted by the Official Golf World Rankings board.

MENA will ultimately enter the LIV field as its own, meaning the likes of Koepka, Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau can now play for ranking points. 

The Telegraph quoted a LIV source as saying: ‘We are adamant that it ticks most if not all of the OGWR boxes. We do not know how they can exclude us now the LIV Golf Series and next year’s LIV Golf League is on the MENA Tour.’

Even Rory McIlroy, perhaps LIV’s fiercest critic among players, says LIV golfers should get world ranking points.

‘I certainly would want the best players in the world ranked accordingly,’ McIlroy said. ‘I think if Dustin Johnson is somewhere around 100th in the world then it’s not an accurate reflection of where he is in the game.’

But McIlroy also alluded to how LIV players play 54 holes – hence the name in Roman numerals – and the rest of the golfing world plays 72.

‘At the same time, you can’t make up your own rules,’ McIlroy said. ‘If they want to pivot to meet the criteria, they can… I certainly have no problem with them getting world ranking points, at all. 

‘But if you don’t meet the criteria, it’s going to be hard to justify why you should have them.’

McIlroy also suggested that talks should be held with LIV and the PGA Tour to try and diffuse the tension between the organizations that are ripping golf apart.

‘I’ve always said there’s a time and place where everyone involved needs to sit down and work together,’ McIlroy said. ‘It’s very hard to do that right now with court cases going on.

‘There’s a natural timeline to let things settle down a little bit. People can go into those meetings with a cooler head.

‘I don’t want a fractured game. The game of golf is ripping itself apart and that’s no good for anyone. It’s not good for the guys on the traditional system or the guys on the other side either.

‘Right now, with where everything is, it’s probably not the right time but we probably can’t leave it too much longer. I’m all for getting around the table and sorting things out.’