As the golfers of LIV Golf prepare themselves for the third event of the season from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, there were some who participated in Asian Tour’s International Series event in Oman. In this event, Mexican golfer Carlos Ortiz emerged as the winner and earned some Official Golf World Rankings (OWGR) points.
Ortiz, a member of LIV Golf’s Torque GC was one of the few members of the breakaway tour playing in this event. This tournament becomes significant for them as participation in it gives them the OWGR points.
In the final round, Ortiz fired a faultless 7-under 65 to claim the title. He would eventually finish ahead of his LIV league mate Louis Oosthuizen and his team captain Joaquin Niemann who came in third.
The OWGR has been the biggest concern for LIV Golf. Despite the ongoing merger talks between the PGA Tour and PIF, their application to receive this rankings points was rejected in 2023. Ortiz himself recently spoke about it and revealed the league promised the golfers that they will continue to receive OWGR points. However, this has not been the case which has led the stars of the breakaway tour try their hands at other events.
Carlos Ortiz surges up in OWGR following win at Asian Tour
The magnificent victory of Carlos Ortiz at the Asian Tour’s International Series event in Oman saw him surge up the OWGR. The 32-year-old golfer climbed up over 1,000 places following his win.
Prior to the tournament, Ortiz was ranked 1,286th in the OWGR. His success in Middle East has seen him jump to 237th in the rankings. This enormous leap has brought him up in the 250 golfers in the world right now.
Following this, the Torque GC star expressed his thoughts and hoped this was a start of a great year and that he could play in the majors.
I hope this is the start of a great year. It means so much to win an event on The International Series. I would like to play in majors this year and win on the LIV Golf League. Carlos Ortiz following his win as per Mirror.
Despite this huge leap in rankings, it is unlikely that Ortiz will make his appearance at the Masters in April. This is because only the top 50 golfers in OWGR are invited including previous winners and other participants based on their performance in previous year’s other majors.
His captain Joaquin Niemann though will be at the Augusta National. Last week he received a special invitation from the tournament organizers and thus become the 13th LIV Golfer to punch his entry ticket to this marquee event.
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