WAGR criteria updates for 2024
The World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) has announced changes to the system for 2024. University Golf Spain as organizer of the UGP Tour WAGR, tournaments that put points at stake for this ranking, we publish these updates so that all participants in our circuit are up to date in this sense.
The WAGR 2024 criteria updates are as follows:
1) Clarification on Points for Uncompleted Events
It was felt that current criteria was not clear on how WAGR treats all cases when a player retires
from a competition. As such, Section 3.3.2 has been updated to clarify that “Where a player has a no return, withdraws, is disqualified, retires and/or is substituted (in team related results) from, a Counting Event, Ranking Points will be awarded equivalent to their finish position in the field and the player will receive a Divisor.”
This means that:
- If a score is not returned for the first round, the player will earn Ranking Points equivalent to last place in the field.
- If the player discontinues play during a subsequent round, they shall be ordered by score among all players who also did not return a score for a subsequent round and Ranking Points will be awarded by that position.
- If the player had successfully made the cut in Stroke Play, they will be awarded the position in the field below those players who have played in rounds after the cut and above those players who failed to make the cut. Finishing position and Ranking Points are then determined accordingly.
2) Updated Appeals Process
WAGR has reviewed and updated our appeals process to make it more transparent what issues can be appealed and by whom. From 1 January 2024, any appeal will need to be submitted by the effected party (the Appellant) using the official WAGR appeals forms.
- In the case of a Counting Event appeal, the request must come from the Event Organiser. Event Organisers can appeal events being excluded from WAGR Calendar, excluded as a Counting Event, or that an event has be processed incorrectly (this is in regard to the format – not a missing player or incorrect scores, that will be handled as an enquiry).
- In the case of a player related appeal, the request must come from the player. If the player is still a minor, their parent or guarding may submit the appeal on their behalf. Players may only submit appeals in regard to loss of Ranked Player status (in the last 52 weeks of last published rank) OR request to extend their ranked status (no earlier than 4 weeks before the player is due to lose ranked status).
Appeals forms for Event Organisers can be downloaded from the Event Organiser Portal.
Players can download an appeals form from the FAQ section under the “How do I make an appeal?” question.
3) Earning Points While Unranke
The WAGR appeals processes allows players to appeal for upcoming/actual loss of status as a Ranked Player for issues such as serious injury or illness. The organization has found that some players may return to competition prior to making an appeal. This sets-up a situation where they may delay their reinstatement further if they are unhappy with their finish, perhaps not asking for its inclusion, while a great result may be asked to be added. To treat all cases the same, it has been agreed that the fairest approach is to only allow results to count that come after the reinstatement. As such a reinstated player, from 1 January 2024 will not have any “missed” evens added to their reinstated playing profile
Any questions about these updates should be directed to the following email addresses: wagr@randa.org or wagr@usga.org.
We do not want to miss the opportunity to inform you that the UGP Tour WAGR 2023-24 is located at the halfway point of the circuit. There are still 3 more tournaments left, the next and fourth of the Tour being held on February 2, 3 and 4 at the Zaudín Golf course in Seville.
You can obtain more information regarding our TOUR HERE.
