Tiger Woods Mysteriously Jumps Up 15 Spots Days After OWGR Introduced Brand-New Changes
Last year, Tiger Woods was out of action for most of the year due to health issues. The 15x Major Champion made his comeback at the Hеro World Championship in December 2023. Even though he played well in the Bahamas, he finished solo in the 18th spot. Because of Woods’s absence from the professional greens, his OWGR took a massive hit.
After the Bahamas, Woods managed to vault 430 spots in the Official World Golf Ranking. Before the tournament, his OWGR ranking had fallen to a career-low 1,328th. After the Hero World Challenge, he jumped to the 898th spot. However, in recent times, he made a 15-spot leap, which is surprising considering the recent changes made by the OWGR governing board.
The OWGR announced two major updates to its system effective from January 1, 2024, to better reflect the players’ abilities across the spectrum of men’s professional golf. One of the changes was that ranking points would no longer be awarded to players finishing in the bottom 15% of the events that don’t have a cut. This rule applies to the “signaturе еvеnts” on the PGA Tour in 2024, as well as the Hеro World Challenge, which had a 20-man field and no cut.
If the new rule had been in place from its announcement, Woods should not have received any points for his 18th-place finish as he was in the bottom 15% of the field and would have remained at the career-low rank. But he managed to jump to the 898th spot, and now his ranking stands at 883 in the OWGR table.
