Following the season-closing DP World Tour Championship in 2023, 10 players were handed PGA Tour cards for the following year as part of a strengthened strategic alliance between the two circuits.
As the regular PGA Tour season draws to a close with the Wyndham Championship ahead of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, it’s a good time to assess the impact of the new arrivals - although only nine of them competed in the 2024 PGA Tour season.
First to the player who didn’t compete on the Tour. Pole Adrian Meronk won two DP World Tour titles in 2023, helping him to the highest position of those who earned a card.
That gave him entry to the first two signature events of the season, but even that wasn’t enough to persuade him to compete. Instead, he joined LIV Golf in time for February’s season opener at Mayakoba, drawing an immediate suspension from the PGA Tour.
Unlike Meronk, Frenchman Matthieu Pavon grabbed his PGA Tour opportunity with both hands. He began the season with a T7 at the Sony Open in Hawaii and it got even better two tournaments later when he won the Farmers Insurance Open.
Matthieu Pavon hit the ground running with a win at the Farmers Insurance Open
More strong performances followed, including third at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, to leave him safely inside the top 50 of the FedEx Cup standings. That means not only has he retained his card with plenty of room to spare, but we’ll also see him in next year’s signature events.
It’s a similar story for Scot Robert MacIntyre, although it took him a while longer to find his feet on the PGA Tour. He eventually managed it in style, though, with wins at the RBC Canadian Open and the co-sanctioned Genesis Scottish Open to cement his place in the top 50 of the standings and all next year’s signature events.
Frenchman Victor Perez came flying out of the traps in the 2023 DP World Tour season with victory at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, which went a long way towards earning his PGA Tour card.
He’s yet to win this season, but there have been significant highlights, including finishes of third at the Puerto Rico Open and RBC Canadian Open. He’s a whisker away from making the FedEx Cup Playoffs, sitting 71st in the standings when he needs to climb inside the top 70, and he’ll be confident of doing that at the Wyndham Championship.
Finn Sami Valimaki was runner-up at the Mexico Open, but apart from that bright spot, it’s been a struggle this year and he sits 94th in the FedEx Cup standings. That means he’ll be on the PGA Tour again next season, but he’s given up on the chance to make the FedEx Cup Playoffs as he’s not in the field for this week’s Sedgefield County Club event.
A T4 at the Myrtle Beach Classic and a T7 at the RBC Canadian Open have given New Zealand player Ryan Fox the points he needed to sit safely inside the top 125 of the FedEx Cup standings, in 102nd. Overall, though, it’s been a mixed bag, with six missed cuts.
Still, with 500 points on offer for a win in the Wyndham Classic, he also has a chance of forcing his way into the Playoffs, and that’s what he’ll be aiming to do this week.
Sitting just five places beneath Fox is Ryo Hisatsune, who earned his card after finishing in the 10th and final place of the Race to Dubai standings.
The Japanese player is still looking for his first top 10 on the PGA Tour this season, while his last two outings on the circuit have ended with missed cuts. He’ll be looking to claim an unlikely FedEx Cup Playoff spot this week or, at the very least, finish produce a strong performance ahead of the FedEx Cup Fall events.
Ryo Hisatsune is 107th in the FedEx Cup standings
Three of the DP World Tour graduates, Jorge Campillo, Thorbjorn Olesen and Alexander Bjork, face the prospect of giving up their full PGA Tour playing privileges after just one season, as they each sit beneath the top 125 of the FedEx Cup standings - although they have the FedEx Cup Fall to come to try and recover their situations.
A T11 at The American Express aside, Swede Bjork has struggled for much of the PGA Tour season. That won’t improve this week, either, as he’s not in the Wyndham Championship field.
However, for Campillo and Olesen, the chance to climb up the standings is available as they will tee it up in North Carolina.
Campillo will be hoping to draw on the experience of his best performance of the season, where he finished T4 at the Myrtle Beach Classic, while for Olesen, who has had a win in 2024, albeit in the Ras Al Khaimah Championship on the DP World Tour, he’s looking for his first PGA Tour top 10 of the year.
DP World Tour Graduates In FedEx Cup Standings
- 16: Matthieu Pavon
- 17: Robert MacIntyre
- 71: Victor Perez
- 94: Sami Valimaki
- 102: Ryan Fox
- 107: Ryo Hisatsune
- 136: Jorge Campillo
- 155: Thorbjorn Olesen
- 167: Alexander Bjork
- N/A: Adrian Meronk
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