As Rory McIlroy capped off his Race to Dubai-winning campaign with DP World Tour Championship victory, 10 more players were celebrating their own potentially career-changing success.
For the second year running, the leading 10 players in the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai rankings – who were not already exempt – secured a PGA Tour card for 2025 and dual membership for next season.
Robert MacIntyre was among the players to benefit from the pathway between the two tours last season, securing victories at the RBC Canadian Open and Genesis Scottish Open, while Mathieu Pavon also won in his breakthrough PGA Tour season.
Rasmus Hojgaard topped the 2024 qualifiers, bringing bonus invites into The Players and both first two Signature Events – the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational, while the other nine can all now split their time between Europe and the United States next season.
Players have until November 29 to accept their PGA Tour status, with a spot going to he next highest available golfer in the season-long rankings should anyone elect against taking up competing on both tours.
From the golfer previously dubbed ‘the next Rory McIlroy’ to another who briefly retired from the sport, along with multiple Ryder Cup hopefuls, we look at the 10 who now have earned their chance to take up dual membership…
Rasmus Hojgaard
Race to Dubai position: Second
2024 highlights: One win (Amgen Irish Open), eight top 10s
Hojgaard so nearly grabbed a PGA Tour card last year – pipped by Matthieu Pavon in the closing holes in Dubai – but ensured he will join brother Nicolai on the tour next year with another strong campaign.
The highlight of Hojgaard’s eight top-10 finishes came at the Amgen Irish Open, where he birdied four of his last five holes in a phenomenal final-round 65 to snatch a one-shot victory over McIlroy and a fifth DP World Tour title.
He then pushed McIlroy all the way in the season-ender in Dubai, finishing two strokes behind the Northern Irishman. Hojgaard is now inside the world’s top 50 and will now want to emulate his brother in securing a Ryder Cup debut for Team Europe at Bethpage Black.
Tristan Lawrence
Race to Dubai position: Third
2024 highlights: Five runner-up finishes, 10 top 10s
Lawrence has four DP World Tour wins since joining the tour as a rookie in 2021 – when his exploits earned him the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award – but interestingly, none of those came this year, by far his strongest.
What has stood out for the South African in 2024 is his consistency, with five second-place finishes on the DP World Tour that left him as McIlroy’s remaining rival for the Race to Dubai title heading into the closing stages of the season.
Lawrence also shone at a major for the first time this year at The Open, with the 27-year-old in the final group alongside Billy Horschel and briefly leading before finishing in fourth spot. His 10 top-10 finishes on the DP World Tour in 2024 was more than any other player.
Paul Waring
Race to Dubai position: Fifth
2024 highlights: One win (Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship), six top 10s
Waring has been somewhat of a journeyman, with the 39-year-old Englishman having been part of the DP World Tour since earning his card at Qualifying School in 2007. But amid struggles with form and injuries through the years, he only had one victory – in his 200th start on tour at the 2018 Nordea Masters – to his name coming into this season.
The Englishman was just trying to retain a top-50 Race to Dubai ranking and qualify for the DP World Tour Championship when he teed it up at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, only to fire a career-best 61 in the second round to break the course record and set up a career-changing win.
Tied-third and tied-sixth results were among five top 10s across 2024 ahead of his two-shot victory in Abu Dhabi, which earned him over €1.4m (£1.17m) – more in one event than his yearly earnings for each season apart from 2019 on the DP World Tour.
Jesper Svensson
Race to Dubai position: 10th
2024 highlights: One win (Porsche Singapore Classic), six top 10s
Svensson – after showing plenty of promise on the Challenge Tour – joined the DP World Tour this season and, in just his second start as a full member, nearly won the South African Open, leading at the halfway stage before taking second place.
Another second place came in Bahrain in February, but he would only have to wait one more month for that maiden win on tour as he shot a course-record 63 at the Porsche Singapore Classic before beating Kiradech Aphibarnrat in a play-off.
Back-to-back top fives in the Czech Republic and England at the Betfred British Masters in the summer boosted his hopes of a card, with a tied-seventh finish in Dubai one of six top 10s registered in his breakout season.
Niklas Norgaard
Race to Dubai position: 11th
2024 highlights: One win (Betfred British Masters), six top 10s
Norgaard has made steady progress through the golfing ranks after a late start to the professional game, winning the Nordic Golf League order of merit in 2019 and earning promotion from the Challenge Tour in 2021.
The 32-year-old claimed a runner-up finish at the Soudal Open and added a tied-fourth at the Porsche European Open in back-to-back events before celebrating a maiden DP World Tour victory at the Betfred British Masters later in the summer.
He became the third Danish player to win the British Masters and enjoyed an impressive finish to the season, with strong showings at Wentworth and Abu Dhabi also helping him earn his opportunity to tee it up on the PGA Tour.
Matteo Manassero
Race to Dubai position: 12th
2024 highlights: One win (Jonsson Workwear Open), eight top 10s
You might remember Manassero as the golfing wonderkid, with the Italian still holding the record for being the youngest to ever win a DP World Tour event – as a 17-year-old – back in 2010, while he rose as high as world No 25 in 2013.
He lost his playing privileges in 2018 and after taking a brief hiatus from the game before working his way back up the golfing pyramid, enjoying a resurgent 2024 season on the DP World Tour and winning his first tournament for 11 years at the Jonsson Workwear Open in South Africa.
The 31-year-old also contended at the Amgen Irish Open and the BMW PGA Championship to get himself back comfortably inside the world’s top 100, with Manassero now set to return to the PGA Tour for the first time since he was a special temporary member in 2014.
Thorbjorn Olesen
Race to Dubai position: 13th
2024 highlights: One win (Ras al Khaimah Championship), five top 10s
Olesen will return for another year on the PGA Tour after a strong end to the season complimented his win at the Ras al Khaimah Championship, with three top 10s in the last four events including a tied-third in Abu Dhabi.
He finished no higher than 14th in his 16 PGA Tour starts last season but will get another chance at cracking America, having already won eight DP World Tour titles and featured in Europe’s 2018 Ryder Cup success in an impressive career.
Antoine Rozner
Race to Dubai position: 15th
2024 highlights: No wins, seven top 10s
Rozner qualified for the DP World Tour in 2020 and won the Golf in Dubai championship in his rookie campaign, then following that up with victories at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in 2021 and AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open in 2023.
There has been no victory this year but he did put up a stellar fight in the season, finishing in tied-third after sharing the lead with McIlroy and Hojgaard heading into the final day.
Back-to-back top-six finishes at the Genesis Championship and in Abu Dhabi ahead of that strong finish in Dubai were part of seven top 10s this year, with Rozner looking to follow in Pavon’s footsteps and enjoy French success on the PGA Tour.
Rikuya Hoshino
Race to Dubai position: 17th
2024 highlights: One win (Commercial Bank Qatar Masters), seven top 10s
Hoshino had a great pedigree on the Japan Golf Tour – winning six times between 2018 and 2022 – but this was his first full year on the DP World Tour and he started superbly, with runner-up finishes in his first two starts and then winning the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters soon after.
Hoshino was a frequent contender over the year, though he would have been sweating on Sunday after dropping five shots in his closing 11 holes in Dubai’s season finale to put him at risk.
Tom McKibbin
Race to Dubai position: 18th
2024 highlights: No wins, nine top 10s
McKibbin, who like McIlroy hails from the Holywood club near Belfast, burst onto the scene last year when he won as a rookie on the DP World Tour and has more than built on that with a consistent sophomore season.
Only Lawrence has more top 10s this year than McKibbin, who made his major debut at the US Open this summer ahead of a runner-up finish at the Italian Open and also played in The Open.
He finished inside the top 10 at Wentworth and Abu Dhabi before snatching the last of the PGA Tour cards on offer at the DP World Tour Championship, where he signed off his tied-11th finish with a closing birdie to end above Jordan Smith in the Race to Dubai standings.
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