“…IF YOU REALLY WANT TO START A HEATED ARGUMENT AT ANY DP WORLD TOUR EVENT, MENTION…”
It is, by a distance, easily the most controversial aspect of the ‘Strategic Alliance’ that has bound the DP World Tour to the PGA Tour since November 2020.
No, it’s not the co-sanctioning of the Scottish Open that has so many of the former European Tour’s rank-and-file moaning about their lack of opportunity to tee-up in one of the Old World circuit’s biggest events. And no, it’s not the fact that the PGA Tour now owns as much as 40 percent of the highly-lucrative European Tour Productions.
Oh no, it’s none of the above.
But if you really want to start a heated argument at any DP World Tour event, mention the clause that says the leading ten players on the Race to Dubai at year’s end (in addition to those already exempt) will earn PGA Tour cards for the following season. On one hand there are those who feel that such a policy is nothing short of insanity. “What business,” ask the naysayers, “gives away ten of its biggest assets on an annual basis?”
Others tend to take a more pragmatic view. Those players good enough to finish in one of the ten coveted spots would, sooner or later, have been heading across the Atlantic in any case. So, all this policy has done is formalise a long-established fact of golfing life. As ever, the clue is in the title. “Professional” golfers – especially those most gifted – have always gravitated towards the places where the most money is available. And, at least until LIV Golf came along, that place was the PGA Tour.
Adding to that contrary argument is the expectation that a large part of any damage sustained by the DP World Tour is likely to be short-lived. Many if not most of the “topten” are more than likely to be returned no more than 12 months into their new lives in the New World.
Take the first beneficiaries of this latest exemption category, those who qualified in 2023: Adrian Meronk, Ryan Fox, Victor Perez, Thorbjørn Olesen, Alexander Björk, Sami Valimaki, Robert MacIntyre, Matthieu Pavon, Jorge Campillo and Ryo Hisatsune. Even former Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjørn, universally recognised as perhaps the DP World Tour’s biggest fan, takes the view that no more than “three or four” of the ten will retain their PGA Tour cards this year.
And that may be an optimistic view. One of the ten, in fact, is almost certain to be back competing on more familiar courses in 2025. Approached at the Dubai Invitational in January, Campillo admitted to not being “super-excited” by the prospect of taking on many of the world’s best players in an environment familiar to them and foreign to a 37-year-old Spaniard who has proved good enough to win only three of the more than 350 starts he has made on his home tour.
More specifically, Campillo intimated his intention to play five events in the Middle East before venturing across the pond for what he thought would be maybe six starts stateside. Then he would consider his position and decide whether or not to return to the PGA Tour next year.
Just between you and me … I’m betting the ranch he will be back on the DP World Tour full-time in 2025.
Anyway, adding to the ire of those opposed to any and all of the above is the fact that, after giving away ten of his top men to a rival tour, outgoing chief executive Keith Pelley granted those who lost their PGA Tour cards by finishing outside the top 125 on the 2023 FedEx Cup standings full membership on the DP World Tour in 2024.
There is a catch to that apparent generosity, however. To prevent too many Americans from invading Europe – invoking the tongue-in-cheek description of GIs during World War II, “overpaid, overfed, oversexed and over here” – only five players from this newly-created “exempt” list can play each week. Still, for players facing either a year of purgatory on the second-division Korn Ferry Tour or sporadic appearances on the PGA Tour, the opportunity to tee-up in events like the Dubai Desert Classic or the Irish Open is a pretty attractive proposition.
Okay, bottom line. This column recognises the outrage expressed by many on this issue because giving away ten of your best in exchange for a sprinkling of the PGA Tour’s “worst” is not a good look. But let’s get real.
The most gifted players amongst the ten – Meronk and Fox – weren’t going to hang around in Europe for long anyway. As for the rest? Few outside their immediate families will even notice their absence. I hate to be harsh, but virtually no one shows up at a DP World Tour event to watch Sami Valimaki or Alexander Björk.