European Ryder Cup hero Robert MacIntyre is one of five DP World Tour regulars who will set out this coming week to establish themselves in America, after earning dual membership of the PGA Tour for the season.
As part of the expanded strategic alliance between the two tours, for the first time ever last season, the top 10 finishers in the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai standings, who were not already exempt, were awarded PGA Tour cards and dual membership of both tours.
That saw Adrian Meronk, Ryan Fox, Victor Perez, Thorbjorn Olsen, Alexander Bjork, Sami Valimaki, Robert MacIntyre, Matthiu Pavon, Jorge Campillo and Ryo Hisatune finish in the new exemption category, behind the top finishers in the Race to Dubai like Rory McIlroy, who already had PGA Tour status for 2024. Now MacIntyre, Bjork, Valimaki, Pavon and Hisatune are preparing to make their bows this month in the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Of those five players, MacIntyre is the most high-profile after playing in 29 PGA Tour sanctioned events already in his career, with 24 cuts made for $2.5 million prize money so far. His last appearance in America was in May, when he played in the PGA Championship and he is likely to be in confident mood after his impressive Ryder Cup debut helping Luke Donald's side to victory last year.
Hisatsune also looks a promising bet to do well Stateside, with five cuts from five appearances in PGA Tour sanctioned events. This included a tied 10th finish at the Barracuda Championship last summer.
But Swedish professional Bjork will be looking to improve on his PGA record of six cuts from 12 appearances. The Swede's last appearance in America was back in 2019 in the PGA Championship but, on the DP World Tour, he recorded two runner-up finishes last season, as well as eight top-10s to earn dual membership.
Fellow Scandinavian, Valimaki, a former DP World Tour Rookie of the Year, has a better cut percentage with four from six, but the Finn has earned just $130,000 on the PGA Tour previously and has not played there since the 2021 PGA Championship.
The final player is Pavon, who has played in eight previous PGA Tour sanctioned events with three cuts made and $150,000 in prize money. His last appearance across the Atlantic was the Barracuda Championship in July, when he missed the cut on eight-over.
Pavon's ticket to USA was sealed in dramatic fashion, as he birdied his final four holes to rocket up the leaderboard and finish tied fifth at the DP World Tour Championship in November. This bumped Rasmus Hojgaard out of a PGA Tour card as Pavon ended up finishing 15th in the overall standings.
