The 2024 DP World Tour season is fast approaching its conclusion, and while the Race To Dubai can only be won by a lone golfer, there is another particularly lucrative prize being hunted by 10 eligible competitors - a PGA Tour card for 2025.
Confirmed ahead of the 2023 season, the '10 Cards Initiative' was a byproduct of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour's strategic alliance which presented the leading decade of European-based players with the chance to earn playing rights in America for the following campaign.
Anyone who is not already exempt and finishes among the leading golfers on the Race To Dubai rankings can pick one up, helping them playing for significantly higher prize purses against many of the world's very best.
Matthieu Pavon and Robert MacIntyre were among the first beneficiaries of the scheme, with both going on to secure maiden PGA Tour titles in their full debut rookie campaign.
Pavon triumphed at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines while MacIntyre picked up two victories - the first arriving at the Canadian Open and the second being the co-sanctioned Scottish Open.
But for 2024, there is a new wave of eager pros who are jostling for position in not only the Race To Dubai, but also the race to the PGA Tour.
Currently leading the way in the '10 Cards Initiative' is Thriston Lawrence. The South African - who sits second in the Race To Dubai behind Rory McIlroy - has four runner-up results this term but has, remarkably, not yet won an event. He did finish fourth after an excellent showing at the 152nd Open Championship, however.
Rasmus Hojgaard is second on the list to earn a PGA Tour card and fourth in the RTD, mainly as a result of his recent Irish Open victory over McIlroy. The Northern Irishman still leads the way in the overall standings, but the Dane is well on track to finally join his twin brother Nicolai in America just 12 months after he brutally missed out by one place at the 2023 DP World Tour Championship.
Perhaps the most remarkable face inside the top-10 currently is Matteo Manassero. Last season, Manassero was playing on the Challenge Tour. This year, he won the Jonsson Workwear Open. Next term, he could be rubbing shoulders with the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele.
The Italian's rollercoaster career is set for its latest positive chapter if he can maintain his good form until late-November, with the 31-year-old just a place behind Hojgaard.
Jesper Svensson and Niklas Norgaard come next as the seventh and eighth-placed golfers in the Race To Dubai, respectively. The Swede claimed victory at the Singapore Classic while also ending second at three other tournaments, while recent British Masters champion Norgaard gave himself a great chance at PGA Tour golf following his debut success on the DP World Tour.
February's Qatar Masters winner and consistently excellent golfer, Rikuya Hoshino is 11th in the Race To Dubai - marking him down in sixth for a PGA Tour card as things stand - one spot in front of Sebastian Soderberg.
The other Swede in the top-10 has managed five top-five results without a win so far this term, missing out on a victory in extraordinary circumstances when LPGA Tour pro Linn Grant overcame an eight-shot deficit to beat him at the Scandinavian Mixed back in June.
The remaining three players currently on track for a PGA Tour card all sit between 14th and 16th in the season-long race.
In the most anxiety-filled section of the rankings, Romain Langasque - who has twice been a runner-up in 2024 along with a third place - is just in front of Tom McKibbin, close friend of McIlroy, and Guido Migliozzi, who won the KLM Open in a three-man playoff back in June. Migliozzi is less than five points ahead of Frederic Lacroix, the next player in the rankings.
The next five closest eligible golfers to Migliozzi are Lacroix, Angel Hidalgo, Laurie Canter, Jordan Smith, and Nacho Elvira, but they only have six tournaments remaining to change their painful fate.
