Although Viktor Hovland's season is over with just two qualifying starts under his belt, the DP World Tour has confirmed to Golf Monthly that his Ryder Cup qualifying status is secure after being amended to reflect his injury.
The Norwegian withdrew from the BMW PGA Championship field in September and has now told the DP World Tour that he cannot play again this season due to injury.
Having played in just the Paris 2024 Olympics and Scottish Open, that left Hovland with just two qualifying appearances out of the minimum of four needed to retain DP World Tour membership - and eligibility for Ryder Cup selection.
It's a similar scenario for LIV golf pair Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, who appealed against their fines and suspensions in order to complete their four tournaments in the autumn.
Since it's an injury that is preventing Hovland from completing his four event minimum, though, the DP World Tour has amended his criteria meaning that he will retain his membership despite playing just twice.
A DP World Tour spokesperson told Golf Monthly: “Viktor is now unable to play again on the DP World Tour this season due to injury.
"As a result, his minimum ‘Counting Tournament’ obligation has been amended."
That news will be a relief to Hovland, who may have worried about his Ryder Cup eligibility, and especially Luke Donald who has previously said the rules would not be changed for the likes of Rahm and Hatton.
Injury, though, is a different story than their disciplinary problems, so Hovland has had his membership preserved and he will continue to hold a DP World Tour card and be eligible for Donald's team next year.
Hovland has had a difficult year with injury and swing problems - with a change of coach at the start of the year not working out as he returned to Joe Mayo in May.
This all coming on the back of the best year of his career in 2023, when he won the FedEx Cup and starred in Europe's Ryder Cup victory in Rome when climbing to World No.3 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
In 2024, though, the 27-year-old missed the cut in three of the four Majors - he did challenge for the PGA Championship but eventually finished third behind Xander Schauffele.
That was very much the outlier though in an otherwise disappointing campaign, which has now been cut short due to injury.
Hovland will hope that a complete rest and reset may help him to bounce back in 2025 for a huge Ryder Cup years as the Europeans head to Bethpage Black.
