Phil Mickelson is as qualified as anyone to determine who is the best player in the world of golf at the moment and he’s now claimed the world’s best player is on the LIV Golf tour.
With LIV Golf players not getting OWGR points, they’ll never officially be top of the pops and in the main, will tumble down the rankings.
At the moment, Scottie Scheffler is the official world number one, while Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele sit in the top three.
However, according to Phil Mickelson, the world’s best player actually sits on the LIV tour.
Phil Mickelson names Joaquin Niemann as the world’s number one golfer
With LIV Golf having an event in Singapore this weekend, Chilean star Joaquin Niemann rose once again to pick his fourth win since moving to the Saudi-backed tour.
Niemann has emerged as a major star in the game and last year, he won himself an invite to The Masters, such was his form.
And now, after Torque GC posted about Niemann being a top five player, Mickelson responded to say that he’s better than that, and actually is the number one.
The top ranked LIV Golf players according to OWGR
As it stands, there are only a select few players from LIV who occupy decent spots in the official rankings.
Tyrrell Hatton is the highest ranked at 12, while Bryson DeChambeau’s US Open win in 2024 means he is still 16th.
However, beyond that, most of the LIV players are falling away, with Jon Rahm a prime example down in 59th and still dropping.
As for Niemann, he is remarkably down in 81st due to his move to LIV. Given his form on the LIV tour, it seems bizarre he is so far down.
As for Phil Mickelson, well, it’s not even worth him looking as he sits down in 724th.
Hopefully, the powers that be can put something in place to sort this over time, with players like Niemann and more deserving to be much higher.
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
