The PGA Tour announced its eligibility criteria for the new-look, two-tier tour that’s coming in 2028, but though the DP World Tour and the Strategic Alliance was mentioned in the PGA Tour’s release, details as to how and where players based on the European circuit would fit into the PGA Tour’s new format were scant.
Currently, the leading 10 players on the Race to Dubai – not already exempt – earn PGA Tour cards for the following season, and fears are that the new structure would see DP World Tour players offered a pathway to the Challenger Series – effectively division two – and not to the Championship Series, which is where Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, and the other leading PGA Tour players will be competing.
But McIlroy doesn’t feel that that’s a likely scenario, as he believes that the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour Challenger Series will be of similar strength so any movement between those two would not be viewed as a promotion.
“No, I don’t think so,” he replied when asked if it was something for the DP World Tour to be concerned with when talking to the press ahead of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
“I just think it’s a conversation about [how] the PGA’s structure has changed. There were 10 cards that were given out from the DP World Tour. I guess from my point of view I don’t see any reason why a DP World Tour player would go to the Challenger Series. I don’t see that as an upward move in your career. I see it as a very lateral move.”
Instead, McIlroy feels that it’s simply a case of deciding how many places on the Championship Series will be allocated.
“So it would just be, okay, how many cards is reasonable to give to the DP World Tour for the Championship Series?” he said. “I would imagine that’s sort of what the ongoing discussions are. But I guess from DP World Tour – I mean, obviously I’m a dual member, but I just don’t see –
“I mean, you’re really trying to create something on this Tour that is a viable alternative to the Challenger Series. Obviously this is going to be a pathway to the Championship Series. No one’s going to argue that the Championship Series is going to be the highest level of Tour golf that you can play, and then it’s just deciding what an adequate number of cards is to go from here to the Championship Series.”
McIlroy admitted that he would see no benefit for DP World Tour players to move over to compete on the Challenger Series, and that should the only pathway from DP World Tour be to the Challenger Series, it would be basically admitting that the DP World Tour is effectively a third-tier tour.
“Yeah, as I said, I just don’t see it as an upward move in your career. I see it more as like a lateral move. So why would you?” he asked. “You would only give the opportunity to DP World Tour members if they were progressing in their career, and I don’t see the Challenger Tour as a progression from the DP World Tour, and I would say a lot of players would feel similarly here.”
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