Final week for DP World Tour members including Japan’s Rikuya Hoshino to earn 2025 PGA Tour membership via the DP World Tour top 10

This week’s DP World Tour Championship in Dubai marks the final opportunity for DP World Tour members, including Japan’s Rikuya Hoshino and Keita Nakajima, to earn PGA Tour membership in 2025 via the DP World Tour Top 10.

Rikuya Hoshino plays his second shot on the 10th hole during day one of the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club on July 11 in North Berwick, Scotland. [GETTY IMAGES]

This week’s DP World Tour Championship in Dubai marks the final opportunity for DP World Tour members, including Japan’s Rikuya Hoshino and Keita Nakajima, to earn PGA Tour membership in 2025 via the DP World Tour top 10.

Now in its second year, the DP World Tour Top 10 offers dual membership for the following PGA Tour season to the top 10 players in the final Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex, not otherwise exempt (DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking).

As part of the Strategic Alliance between the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, the eligibility pathway was created to offer DP World Tour members direct access to the PGA Tour. The program proved successful in 2024, with two players — Matthieu Pavon and Robert MacIntyre — qualifying for the Tour Championship and combining for three victories on the PGA Tour. Seven of the 10 players in the inaugural DP World Tour Top 10 are in position to retain their cards for 2025.

Asia’s best hope lies with Japan’s Rikuya Hoshino, who sits in eighth place in the DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking, entering the final week of the season. Hoshino won the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters earlier this year and added four other top-10s to put himself in prime position to earn a PGA Tour card. Last month, countryman Kaito Onishi earned his PGA Tour status by finishing in the Top-30 of the Korn Ferry Tour rankings.

Another Japanese player, Keita Nakajima, is also in the field in Dubai, entering the week in 33rd position. Winner of the Hero Indian Open this season, the former world amateur No. 1 needs to finish solo third on Sunday to have a mathematical chance of earning one of 10 PGA Tour cards at stake this week.

Keita Nakajima watches his tee shot on the 11th hole during a practice round for the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Valhalla Golf Club on May 14 in Louisville, Kentucky. [AP/YONHAP]

One year after finishing No. 12 in the DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking, South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence is currently atop the ranking after a season marked by five runner-up finishes that includes the BMW PGA Championship. The 27-year-old also held the lead heading into the back nine at The Open Championship before finishing solo fourth at Royal Troon. Should he retain his position as the leading player from the DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking, Lawrence will earn an exemption into The Players Championship in 2025.

Lawrence is also currently positioned to receive exemptions into two Signature Events on the PGA Tour in 2025 by virtue of his place in the Race to Dubai Rankings (No. 2). The highest-ranked player in the final Race to Dubai Rankings that did not finish inside the top 50 in the 2024 FedExCup standings will receive exemptions into the 2025 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational.

Denmark’s Rasmus Højgaard, who narrowly missed out on PGA Tour membership in 2024 after finishing No. 11 in the 2023 DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking, will have the opportunity to join twin brother Nicolai Højgaard on Tour in 2025. Rasmus collected seven top-10 finishes during the 2024 DP World Tour season including his fifth DP World Tour title at the Amgen Irish Open and currently sits at No. 2 in the DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking. In 22 career starts on the PGA Tour, Rasmus has two top-10 finishes highlighted by a solo-sixth at the 2022 Corales Puntacana Championship.

With his second DP World Tour title at last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, 39-year-old Englishman Paul Waring is now in position to earn PGA Tour membership after jumping to No. 3 in the DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking. The win came in his 332nd career start on the DP World Tour and more than six years since his maiden title at the 2018 Nordea Masters.

Paul Waring plays on the second hole during the DP World Tour Championship golf tournament in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Sunday. [AFP/YONHAP]

Italy’s Matteo Manassero experienced a resurgent 2024 season on the DP World Tour with his first win since 2013, positioning himself for PGA Tour membership at No. 5 in the DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking. Manassero, who at age 17 became the youngest winner of a DP World Tour event by claiming the 2010 Castello Masters Costa Azahar and rose to as high as No. 25 in the Official World Golf Ranking in 2013, lost his playing privileges in 2018 and took a brief hiatus from the game. Manassero officially returned to the DP World Tour in 2024 after winning twice on the Challenge Tour in 2023 and is in position to join the PGA Tour for the first time since competing as a Special Temporary Member in 2014.

Thorbjørn Olesen can retain PGA Tour membership in 2025 thanks to a timely T3 finish at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship that elevated him from No. 12 to No. 7 in the DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking. Olesen earned PGA Tour membership in 2024 via the DP World Tour Top 10 but sits outside the top 125 in the FedExCup Fall standings at No. 165 after posting two top-15 finishes in 16 starts on the PGA Tour in 2024 (T14/Valero Texas Open, T16/Myrtle Beach Classic).

England’s Jordan Smith currently occupies the 10th spot in the DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking following his third-consecutive top-15 finish after a final-round 63 in Abu Dhabi. A two-time DP World Tour winner since 2017, Smith has finished runner-up twice in 2024.

Four of the current top 10 players finished between Nos. 11-20 in the 2023 DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking: Rasmus Højgaard (No. 11), Thriston Lawrence (No. 12), Sebastian Soderberg (No. 15) and Jordan Smith (No. 17).

Those outside the current top 10 include Spain’s Jorge Campillo (No. 18), who earned PGA Tour membership in 2024 via the DP World Tour Top 10 and currently sits No. 148 in the FedExCup Fall standings. If Campillo is unable to join the DP World Tour Top 10 following the DP World Tour Championship, he can still retain his PGA Tour status by moving inside the top 125 in the FedExCup Fall standings at the conclusion of the next week’s RSM Classic (Nov. 21-24).

Spain's Jorge Campillo plays off the first tee during the third day of the Scandinavian Mixed DP World Tour Championship golf tournament, at Vasatorps Golf Club outside Helsingborg in Sweden on June 8. [AP/YONHAP]

The deadline for players to accept PGA Tour membership is Friday, Nov. 29 at 5 p.m. ET. The next player on the DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking would get the spot if someone does not accept.

The first year of the DP World Tour Top 10 in 2024 saw two players — Pavon and MacIntyre — each win on the PGA Tour. Pavon claimed the Farmers Insurance Open in his third start as a Tour member while MacIntyre captured the RBC Canadian Open and later fulfilled a dream by winning the co-sanctioned Genesis Scottish Open, becoming the first Scot to win his national Open since Colin Montgomerie in 1999.

Victor Perez qualified for the FedExCup Playoffs as one of the top 70 players in the FedExCup standings, while Ryo Hisatsune (No. 99), Ryan Fox (No. 110) and Sami Valimaki (No. 117) are all in inside the top 125 in the FedExCup Fall standings and in position to remain fully exempt for the 2025 PGA Tour season. The top 125 players in the FedExCup Fall standings at the conclusion of The RSM Classic will be exempt for all Full-Field events and The Players Championship in 2025.

BY CHUAH CHOO CHIANG [kjdsports@joongang.co.kr]