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LIV Golf partners with MENA Tour, expects to receive OWGR points

Jamie Squire/LIV Golf / Getty Images Sport / Getty

LIV Golf has officially formed a "strategic alliance" with the MENA Tour and expects its players to receive points in the Official World Golf Rankings beginning with the Saudi-backed circuit's Thailand event this week, the tour announced Wednesday.

The MENA Tour, which is a little-known golf tour in the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia, is officially recognized by the OWGR. It's been on pause since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to the new partnership, LIV Golf players have now joined the Dubai-based developmental circuit, and all LIV Golf events will be sanctioned by the MENA Tour.

"We are taking this mutually beneficial action to support the game at the developmental level and because of the importance and fairness of LIV golfers qualifying for OWGR points," LIV Golf president Atul Khosla said in a statement. "We're pleased to create pathways that give more opportunities for young players while also giving fans rankings that include all the world's best golfers."

Up until this point, players who have participated in LIV Golf events haven't received any world ranking points. To accrue points, LIV players would have to compete in events on other tours, but that proved to be difficult since all LIV players are suspended from PGA TOUR events.

LIV Golf members sent a letter to OWGR chairman Peter Dawson to plead their case in late September. They compared their exclusion to "leaving the Big 10 or the SEC out of the U.S. college football rankings, or leaving Belgium, Argentina, and England out of the FIFA rankings."

The controversial tour's stop in Thailand runs from Oct. 7-9.

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