Pro Golf is dealing with its own gratitude crisis
If you’re like me, you struggled to find space in your closet on Thursday, between the bird and the blue casserole. Thanksgiving dinner (and the following seconds or thirds) is best when the meal is heavy with everything, touching all the perfect corners of the plate.
But maybe you also struggled to find a place at the table. Maybe you were pushed out of the way by Uncle Pete. Or maybe there was more room at the kids’ table, so he went there. Gratitude often serves that reminder – that there are more damned than there are. Some people are given TV trays in the living room. That’s exactly what’s happening in Pro Golf, too.
The reduced, but no less important, news of the week that came from the part of the world that is not grateful – London – where it was specified that the DP World Color will specify the number of books of the full status when it is given in 2027, following the same way that is struck by the PGA Tour. The European Version of the Korn Ferry Tour, known as the Hotel Planner Tour, will also have a few spots awarded to graduates for the next step in Pro Golf.
This prompts the same treatment done, controversially, by the PGA Tour, which cuts its number of full cards from 125 to 100 this season. You’ve probably heard about all of that, so why should you care about this DP World Tour story? What are we telling us?
Walking repeats that, two or three years ago, there were too many open seats at the dinner table. That there were too many places offered in the biggest tour of the game, and in order to work for the tournament to improve, and the stakes to rise, and for the best players to benefit the most, a few placemats need to be removed.
For many years, the DP World Tour has offered full membership to 110 players who have advanced to the Dubai race, which is the equivalent of the FedEx Cup. But going forward, that number will now be just 100. The feeding tour under it will reduce its number of graduates from 20 to 15. It all works as a cinch to find the perfect place to enter all the competitions they want to find in the future.
Big Pro Golf friends will remember that, in 2024, the players will fill the PGA Tour status calculated by the DP World Tour or the Orn Ferry Tour were left out looking for popular spring events like the WM Phoenix Open. An unintentional message sent to these graduates Congratulations on joining the PGA tour, now wait for your tee time. DP World Tour CEO guy kinnings found his tour running into a similar problem.
“We’ve had small working groups working on it throughout the year,” Kinnings told Martin Dempster of The Scotsman“And, if you can give those players who have earned their right to play in any different way possible, that greater level of guaranteed planning and balanced opportunities, that’s what we want.”
When the PGA TOUR went from 125 to 100, and the DP world tour from 110 to 100, Pro golfers on the margins would grow to dislike it, and tour managers know it. Kinnings himself mentioned the movement, noting “nothing we do is going to please everyone.” But there is a hidden purpose in this move that those managers don’t often discuss: It also looks at the levels of the game in a simple way that increases the stakes. When there is a clear base between courses around the world, with sharper edges than ever before, the golf that people play on those margins increases in the amount of fun.
Players on the PGA Tour saw that last week when those top 100 card members were completed at the RSM Classic. Those on the outside looking in won’t find it difficult to find their way around the events, but offer full independence to set up their own schedule. They’ll need to check how many players are ranked higher than they want to play in, say, the Valsarpar championship, before they know they can add it to their lineup. The same now goes for the DP world tour and its popular events, such as the Ireland Open.
A big problem for some is not a big problem for everyone. With less guaranteed for players in the water, some will entertain other options. Victor Perez, who played his way onto the PGA Tour in 2025, recently committed to Liv Golf for his 2026 season. That’s no problem for the DP world tour, especially since Perez will keep his membership there, but Perez noted how he felt the gogposts were transitioning to the PGA tour. And to some extent, you are absolutely right. Pro Golf e-PRO Bigger has reduced the size of its dining tables, all while the food at each of them continues to expand. All that means is that you’re better off playing well enough to warrant a seat.
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