Rory McIlroy believes the DP World Tour is alive and kicking while the PGA Tour and LIV Golf continue to lock horns in professional golf’s split.
McIlroy clinched a seventh Race to Dubai title on Sunday, taking him to within one of Collin Montgomerie’s record haul, and it was another grandstand finish as the curtain came down on an enthralling season on the DP World Tour.
Back to back playoffs, ten playoffs in all with five coming in the last nine events. It’s fair to say that the 2025 DP World Tour season served up its share of thrillers. Still, concerns remain over the credibility of Europe’s top tier with many describing it as a feeder tour to the PGA Tour particularly since it started granting cards stateside to the top-10 finishers on the Race to Dubai with the in form hotshot Marco Penge now set to leave.
Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton’s futures also remain uncertain which could have a huge impact on their Ryder Cup eligbility.
Despite this, McIlroy feels the tour is thriving.
“The DP World Tour, with everything that’s gone down in the game of golf, it’s somehow found itself in a very strong position,” he said.
“The world of professional golf is still a little weird and who knows what the future is going to look like, but to have the commitment of DP World for ten years; and to see the Ryder Cup team doing so well and to see how much it means to every single one of the players that’s on the team.”
The DP World Tour’s desert swing in January has always been since as a nice introduction to the new golfing year while the tour comes into its own around August time when the FedEx Cup playoffs have concluded.
From there, McIlroy, Rahm, Hatton, Shane Lowry, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood and others all come back to the continent to play at Irish Opens, Wentworth, Spanish Open, the playoffs etc.
“To have amazing events like this; to have from the start of September all the way true to, I would say, to the end of January, the DP World Tour is the sort of shining light of golf during course of that time frame.
“It’s amazing that all of the players that are coming to play in those events, and hopefully that continues for a long time.”
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