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\nBANGKOK<\/span>:\u00a0Richard Bland, Branden Grace and Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra upstaged their more illustrious opponents on Friday to shoot 7-under 65s and share the lead after the first round of the LIV Golf Invitational Bangkok.<\/p>\n \nMarc Leishman and Ian Poulter were a stroke behind while Kim Sihwan, Brooks Koepka and Morgan Jediah were among those two behind in the 54-hole event.<\/p>\n \nThe tournament is being played on the new Stonehill Golf Club north of downtown Bangkok. The course was created by American designer Kyle Phillips and opened this year.<\/p>\n \nDustin Johnson, who leads the money list with just over $12.5 million in five events, shot 70. British Open champion Cameron Smith, who won the last LIV event in Chicago in mid-September, shot 72. It is the first time LIV Golf is being played outside the US since its inaugural event in early June near London.<\/p>\n \nBefore the start of play, players learned that they still won\u2019t accrue ranking points on the LIV series. The Official World Golf Ranking said in a statement Thursday that it had denied the MENA Tour\u2019s request to immediately add the Saudi-backed series to its schedule.<\/p>\n \nThe OWGR said the MENA Tour did not give it sufficient notice and there would not be time to finish the review ahead of the Bangkok tournament and next week\u2019s event in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n \nThe Thailand invitational is the first time LIV Golf is being played outside the US since the tour\u2019s inaugural event in early June near London.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \nLIV Golf created an alliance with the MENA Tour, which hasn\u2019t run a tournament of its own since March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The MENA Tour stands for Middle East and North Africa and is a developmental tour that has been getting the bare minimum of world ranking points since 2016. It has 54-hole events with a 36-hole cut, offering a $75,000 purse.<\/p>\n \n\u201cI don\u2019t think it really was much of a response. I just hate when you sit on the fence. Just pick a side,\u201d Koepka said Friday. \u201cIf it\u2019s yes or no, just pick one. So I\u2019m not a big fan of that.\u201d<\/p>\n \nBryson DeChambeau, who shot 69 Friday, said the decision by the rankings group was only \u201cdelaying the inevitable.<\/p>\n \n\u201cWe\u2019ve hit every mark in their criteria, so for us not to get points is kind of crazy with having the top \u2014 at least I believe we have the top players in the world,\u201d DeChambeau said. \u201cWe certainly believe that there\u2019s enough that are in the top 50, and we deserve to be getting world ranking points. When they keep holding it back, they\u2019re going to just keep playing a waiting game.\u201d<\/p>\n \n \nFailure to award world-ranking points at the LIV Golf event in Thailand starting on Friday renders the rankings \u201cinaccurate,\u201d the MENA Tour said on Friday.<\/p>\n \nThe top 50 players in the rankings qualify automatically for all four major tournaments. LIV Golf is not currently recognized by OWGR, meaning LIV players tumble down the rankings.<\/p>\n \nThe MENA Tour hit back at the OWGR\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n \n\u201cNot including our event in this week\u2019s OWGR render the results and subsequent player movements inaccurate,\u201d David Spencer, commissioner of the MENA Tour, said in a statement.<\/p>\n \nSpencer added that \u201cwe will continue to work tirelessly to resolve this situation with the OWGR.\u201d<\/p>\n \nLIV, which offers record $25 million purses, has already staged five events in its inaugural year.<\/p>\n \nBut no ranking points have been awarded to its players, including Smith, former world No. 1 Johnson and six-time major winner Phil Mickelson.<\/p>\n \nLIV golfers have been banned from the PGA Tour, ruling out American players from qualifying for the 2023 Ryder Cup.<\/p>\n \nEuropean stars who have left for LIV, including stalwarts Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia, have all plummeted down the world rankings and seem unlikely to make Luke Donald\u2019s team for the biennial contest, which takes place near Rome.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nFAST<\/span>FACT<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n
MENA Tour says golf rankings \u2018inaccurate\u2019 without LIV events<\/strong><\/p>\n