Bryson DeChambeau misses the Olympics as fellow LIV Golfers Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz call out ‘unfair politics’ hurting their qualification chances
LIV Golfers are letting their feeling be known about the “unfair politics” of the Olympics selection process. Mexican golfers Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz, both of whom qualified for the Paris games, were blunt in their criticisms of not being able to compete on the big stage
“It’s just the situation in golf right now, it’s unfair,” Ortiz said at an Olympic press conference. “Especially Olympic Games, you want to have the best golfers right here, but politics somehow manage things still.”
Ortiz’s comments come in the wake of one of the sport’s biggest stars, American and LIV golfer Bryson DeChambeau, not qualifying for the Olympics because of being on the breakaway tour. “The solution would be people up there to leave their egos on the side and find a common ground,” Ortiz reiterated.
DeChambeau is currently ranked ninth in the world by the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) and is fresh off a U.S. Open win, but it wasn’t enough for him to qualify for Paris.
Sixty total players qualify, and the top 15 in the OWGR are all assured of places with a maximum of four per country. Unfortunately for DeChambeau, Scottie Scheffler (1), Xander Schauffele (3), Wyndham Clark (5) and Collin Morikawa (7) all outrank him.
Notably, the OWGR does not calculate LIV Golf points in their tally. Ortiz and Ancer were forced to play in additional tournaments in the buildup to the Olympics to secure their spots.
Abraham Ancer (L), Sergio Garcia and Carlos Ortiz (R) are teammates on the LIV Golf tour ( Image: Getty Images)
“I think very lucky,” Ancer said at the press conference. “I was definitely sweating it in the last two months because there was really not much that I could play that fit the schedule to get in the World Ranking points.
“There was a couple of weeks that I could have played a couple of events on the Asian Tour but the field wasn’t that strong; that if I didn’t happen to finish in the top two or three that week, it might actually hurt my World Ranking more than if I didn’t play.”
Ortiz and Ancer aren’t the only LIV golfers upset with the selection process. Jon Rahm, also ranked in the top 10 and a member of the LIV Tour, had a suggestion: “Allow the countries to pick themselves.”
“There needs to be some guidelines, but Team USA basketball has freedom to choose whoever they want. I understand it’s a different circumstance, but I think you need to let each country choose who they want to play.”
Ortiz continued: “I understand the decision everything and, but right now, I think it’s proven that the golf is there [at LIV], and there should be open panel ways for us to qualify, if that’s still going to be the qualifying system, or let us somehow get into those tournaments in different ways.”
The first round of men’s Olympic golf is slated for 7:30 CET on Thursday, Aug. 1. Rahm joins Americans Scheffler, Schayffele, Clark, and Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy amongst the favorites
