Following Aaron Rai's playoff victory over Tommy Fleetwood at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, there is only one event left to go in the 2024-25 DP World Tour season.
The leading 70 players on the circuit began the opening Play-off event in the Middle East, but the DP World Tour Championship sees only the top-50 in the Race To Dubai progress.
For some players at Jumeirah Golf Estates' Earth Course, this week will be about simply trying to win the final tournament of the year. Meanwhile, for others - if not most - a strong finish is the absolute number one goal in order to crack the top-10.
Not only is there a bonus prize pool to compete for, but there is also the small matter of a PGA Tour card on the line for the top-10 eligible players in the final Race To Dubai rankings.
Brought in before the 2023 campaign, the '10 Cards Initiative' is a perk of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour's strategic alliance, and it offers the leading group of European-based players the chance to play for significantly higher prize purses against many of the world's very best over the course of the following year.
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.
However, the 2024 crop did not fare anywhere near as well, with no wins between them and only one runner-up finish as none of the 10 made the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Tom McKibbin left to join LIV Golf ahead of the PGA Tour season anyway, and he was the only player to earn more money than the year prior.
Despite mixed results through two years of the initiative, many players remain desperate to obtain their shot at breaking through in the US - especially after the PGA Tour reduced the number of full cards for their own members to 100 in order to increase playing opportunities for Korn Ferry Tour and DP World Tour pros.
So, which players are in position to earn a card with just four rounds of the DP World Tour season to play?
Assured of his future and looking to challenge Rory McIlroy for the Race To Dubai title, Marco Penge is second in the rankings and leading the charge for a PGA Tour card.
Penge's rise has been remarkable, with the Englishman only promoted from the Challenge Tour in 2023 and having narrowly managed to keep his DP World Tour card via a strong finish in the final event of 2024 before the Playoffs.
Since then, he sat out several weeks after being banned for breaching betting regulations before returning to the circuit in white-hot form and going on to win the Hainan Classic, the Danish Golf Championship and the Open de España.
If he can hold on to the number one spot in the race for a PGA Tour card, Penge will earns starts at The Players Championship as well as the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational in 2026.
Another man who looks set to play PGA Tour golf in 2026 is Kristoffer Reitan. The Norwegian is fourth in the Race To Dubai rankings after winning the Soudal Open and enjoying an excellent streak during the middle of the year.
He placed runner-up at the Hainan Classic and the Austrian Open while also finishing third at the Nexo Championship and fourth at the BMW International Open, before a tie for fifth at the Open de France and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
The 27-year-old is now well inside the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking and primed to follow compatriot Viktor Hovland onto the PGA Tour.
Next on the list is Adrien Saddier. The Frenchman, who is sixth in the Race To Dubai and holds the third PGA Tour card as it stands, won the Italian Open and was in the running for the BMW PGA Championship title before succumbing to Alex Noren.
Another standout performance saw the Frenchman finish T5th at the Amgen Irish Open and runner-up at the BMW PGA Championship, with a season of consistency putting him in this position so late on.
Immediately following Saddier in the rankings is AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open champion, John Parry.
Parry has not been as consistent as many others in the leading positions, but he has produced some notable results. As well as his early-season win, the Englishman has managed two runner-up finishes, a pair of T3s this season and a couple more top-10s.
Alex Noren held a PGA Tour card in 2025 thanks to finishing in the top-70 of the previous year's FedEx Cup points list.
However, after falling outside the FedEx Cup's top-100, the Swede evidently cut his losses in the US to focus on what he might be able to achieve back in Europe towards the end of the year.
And, after a fantastic victory at the BMW PGA Championship as well as a win at the Betfred British Masters, it is highly likely that Noren will secure his PGA Tour card for 2026 via the Race to Dubai rankings.
Noren is eighth in the Race To Dubai rankings, and the fifth of the 10 non-exempt players currently in line for a card.
The five players between 11th and 15th in the rankings make up the other half of those in line for a PGA Tour card.
Laurie Canter is the highest-placed of those, helped by his tie for second at the Genesis Championship, the latest impressive performance in a season that included victory at the Bahrain Championship.
Next is Haotong Li. The Chinese pro gave himself a great chance of earning an opportunity in the US following his Qatar Masters win in February, and six top-10s since have boosted those chances.
Dan Brown is close behind Li, thanks to his emotional BMW International Open success in the summer.
That success appeared to spark an upturn in form for Brown, who has managed three further top-10s, including a remarkable runner-up at the Open de Espana, in which he was injured down the back nine but still managed to force a playoff with Penge.
A timely runner-up finish at the DP World India Championship helped Keita Nakajima reignite his American dream, with the Japanese professional vaulting up into 14th on the Race To Dubai - just good enough for ninth in the PGA Tour card list.
Taking the final spot as it stands is Jordan Smith, who will be more determined than most to earn his card after narrowly missing out in 2024.
He doesn't have a win this season, but two runner-up finishes, in the Volvo China Open and the BMW International Open, have certainly helped his cause.
Smith is almost 135 points in front of his nearest rival, Martin Couvra, and has some breathing room ahead of the DP World Tour Championship.
Players still in the hunt for a card include Couvra - who had helped the final spot until Canter's heroics at the Genesis Championship - Daniel Hillier, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Elvis Smylie.
Leading 10 DP World Tour Players In Line To Earn 2026 PGA Tour Card
Race To Dubai |
Player |
Points |
|---|---|---|
2nd |
Marco Penge |
3,873.04 |
4th |
Kristoffer Reitan |
2,655.65 |
6th |
Adrien Saddier |
2,518.93 |
7th |
John Parry |
2,431.65 |
8th |
Alex Noren |
2,414.32 |
11th |
Laurie Canter |
2,329.50 |
12th |
Haotong Li |
2,201.32 |
13th |
Daniel Brown |
2,104.36 |
14th |
Keita Nakajima |
2,094.88 |
15th |
Jordan Smith |
2,061.12 |
