London, England: The World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) is implementing a change to how the strength of events is calculated from January 2026.
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The change addresses strength of event concerns whereby players failing to demonstrate a suitable standard of elite performance are affecting the Power of events in a way that is disproportionately advantaging other players. Going forward, players who start the event achieve a certain scoring standard – based on the par of the course – will contribute to the event’s Power (for any of the rounds in which they are eligible to compete). In summary, players who underperform, withdraw or are disqualified will no longer impact the Power calculation.
This change ensures that the Power reflects the performance of players who fully participate and meet the expected level of play throughout the event. This change has been made based on WAGR’s extensive competitive and comparative analysis and in direct response to feedback from stakeholders.
This change will be applied to the Power of all events included in the 104-week counting period starting with the publication of the Week 1 2026 ranking.
A statement released by The R&A and USGA, who oversee the WAGR, said: “We will also apply the change introduced in Week 1 2025, where we adjusted the points allocated in events with a Power less than 50 to all events in the 104-week counting period. More about that announcement can be found here.
“Rankings determined prior to 2026 will not be modified. Players who competed in the impacted events will see their rank adjusted, some significantly, when the results are reprocessed for the first ranking of 2026. The adjustment of points values will not impact anyone who became ranked or the four-point minimum to remain ranked.
“We will also update our criteria (www.wagr/com/criteria) in regards to expected standards for our Event Organisers to maintain and sanctions that may be applied should the WAGR Committee determine that these standards have not been met.” There are currently five players from the Asia-Pacific region in the top-18 in the women’s standings – Thai Eila Galitsky (sixth), Korean Oh Soo-min (12th), Rianne Malixi of the Philippines (15th), Thai Suvichaya Vinijchaitham (17th), and China’s Zhou Shiyuan (18th).
The leading Asia-Pacific player in the men’s standings in 37th place is Thai Fifa Pongsapak Laopakadee, winner of last month’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Dubai.
Also in the top-50 are China’s Paul Chang (40th), Vietnam’s Nguyen Anh Minh (44th) and Thai Josh Duangmanee (50th). |
