Anyone clicking on to “This Week’s Events” on the OWGR webpage this week may be in for surprise.

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In order of points awarded, the RSM Classic, a typical end of season event on the PGA Tour, rewards the winner at Sea Island almost twice the ranking points of the victor at the DP World Championship. This despite Dubai hosting world number one, Rory McIlroy, former number one and current number five Jon Rahm, ninth placed Matt Fitzpatrick, and five further players from the world’s top-30.

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In contrast, after world number 12 Tony Finau pulled out of the event in Georgia, top of the shop is Seamus Power, ranked 30, in-form but with nothing like the pedigree of the three previously named, nor Shane Lowry or Viktor Hovland.

The 50-strong field teeing it up at the Earth Course have earned their places via a season-long ranking table, and Rahm doesn’t find the points system amusing at all.

OWGR now ranks events on overall strength of field, and with a full field against a limited one, the RSM Classic has a rating of over 100 points higher than the championship event, therefore points are distributed as such.

Rahm was not afraid of letting his feelings be known ahead of this week’s event:

“I’m going to be as blunt as I can. I think the OWGR right now is laughable”

“I understand what they are trying to do with the depth of field, but having the best players in the world automatically makes the tournament better,” Rahm added.

“I don’t care what their system says. I think they have made a mistake. I think some aspects of it might be beneficial, but I think they have devalued the value of the better players.

“The 30 best players of the year should not be punished because it’s a smaller field.”

“Depth of field doesn’t mean a better tournament.I could go on and on. I think they have missed the mark on that stance quite a bit.”

The official ranking system has already been called into question on many occasions this year, with many questioning their validity after all LIV events were declared as not qualifying for any ranking points.

This has meant a drop in rankings for the likes of Dustin Johnson and 2022 Open Championship winner Cam Smith, something LIV is very keen to turn round in the future.

Keith Pelley, DP World Tour chief, is already under intense pressure to talk to the LIV ruling committee, and the rebellious talk from one of his own supportive players can’t help matters.

“There is no doubt that Jon Rahm’s conversation and some of the other noticeable changes around OWGR will be a topic at our next board meeting,” he said. “It is prudent to bring it up based on our top players and their comments.”

“The OWGR is a hot topic for many reasons. There were four universities that did a detailed study and all came to the conclusion that the world rankings didn’t necessarily reflect the game of golf. As a result we implemented a new system. And like with any new system you evaluate it and modify it if changes are needed.”

Rahm is adamant that beating better players is the route to increased points:

“Would you rather win a tournament when you have the number one player in the world there or the 30th or 6th there?” asked the 2021 US Open winner.

“I think it’s more valuable if you’re beating best players in the world. I think a lot of people would agree and I think it should reflect that.”

That puts Rahm at odds with another anti-LIV player and Ryder Cup colleague, Rory McIlroy, who gave his support to the new way of points distribution.

“You’ve got a 50-man field here versus a 144-man field there,” said the FedEX Cup winner.

“So just in terms of how the strengths of field is calculated, they have 90 more players to contribute to their strength of field. So the reason that this has got 21 points, and the RSM has got 39 is the person that wins the RSM has to beat 139 other guys.”

“You only have to beat 49 other guys here. It’s a much fairer system.”

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