{"id":497926,"date":"2026-06-27T08:25:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T08:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/497926\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T08:25:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T08:25:14","slug":"pga-tour-what-new-tour-structure-means-for-dp-world-tour-and-kiwi-golfers-pathways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/497926\/","title":{"rendered":"PGA Tour: What new tour structure means for DP World Tour and Kiwi golfers\u2019 pathways"},"content":{"rendered":"

This season, Daniel Hillier<\/a> is in the mix for PGA Tour qualification through the same route, currently 11th on the DP World Tour standings, with three PGA Tour players \u2013 Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed and Aaron Rai – above him. <\/p>\n

A representative of the PGA Tour told the Herald that eligibility criteria for both series was still to be finalised, but would be ahead of the 2027 season \u2013 including access for DP World Tour players as part of the strategic alliance between tours. <\/p>\n

The current alliance expires next year and PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp said this week that discussions around what the partnership between the two tours would look like were ongoing. <\/p>\n

\"DanielDaniel Hillier, who won the New Zealand Open this year, is 11th on the DP World Tour season standings. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s all being discussed. It hasn\u2019t been decided. We\u2019ve had a really successful relationship with the DP World Tour, inclusive of those cards,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think as we create this new model – and the timing is very good because we\u2019re having current discussions with the DP World Tour. That is yet to be decided, but that\u2019s one of the many things we\u2019re speaking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rolapp did, however, indicate pathways such as the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Americas would lead into the second-tier PGA Tour Challenger Series. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis system is really designed to bring more value to our partners. The details of how all of our commercial agreements will work, we\u2019re going to work that out. But our hope is to create more value for FedEx and everybody else. We\u2019re in an existing contract, and we\u2019re going to honour that. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as the other pathways … whether that\u2019s Korn Ferry or PGA Tour Americas, I think we have more work to do on that, but we remain committed to investing in that in order that we continue to build a pipeline of the next generation of PGA Tour players. So there will be pathways into the Challenger Series to do that.\u201d <\/p>\n

The change to the tour structure also brings a shift in the PGA Fall Series \u2013 generally contested by PGA Tour players looking to hold onto their cards for another year or prospects looking to earn their way into the main tour for the next year. <\/p>\n

The new autumn calendar will touch every level of the Tour and was set to include a limited series of elevated international events with top players from the Championship Series, which the PGA Tour intended to deliver in partnership with the DP World Tour. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe DP World Tour, I mentioned we\u2019re currently having conversations around our strategic alliance that expires in 2027. We would like to partner with them as part of our fall and for lack of a better word, off-season, so that we can actually bring more of our players internationally.\u201d <\/p>\n

Under the current PGA Tour format, the top 125 players in the FedEx Cup rankings at the season\u2019s end retain their card for the following season. This includes the autumn tournaments, despite those being played after the Tour Championship winner is crowned. <\/p>\n

In the new format, the two tiers will have separate points lists, with Championship Tour events having a consistent points system for every event, as opposed to the current format, which has four levels of events with different point allocations. <\/p>\n

The Challenger Series will have a minimum of 20 promotion spots available, with promotion ensuring entry into every event on the Championship Series outside of the four majors and The Players Championship. <\/p>\n

The Championship Series is expected to feature 130 golfers, with at least the top 90 retaining their place for the following season. Those who fail to meet that mark will go into the autumn series to try and earn their place that way. <\/p>\n

Players will also be able to be relegated out of the Challenger Series, however the PGA Tour has not yet released specific information about that process. <\/p>\n

Christopher Reive<\/a> joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This season, Daniel Hillier is in the mix for PGA Tour qualification through the same route, currently 11th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[19330,95,52364,91582,2753,2082,18480,194,80652,17768,117,111,139,69,56820,59742,12425,18238,5258,65160,213,3934,208,248920,6923,377,17450],"class_list":["post-497926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-19330","tag-and","tag-beginning","tag-dp","tag-eyes","tag-for","tag-golfers","tag-kiwi","tag-limbo","tag-means","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-onto","tag-pathway","tag-pathways","tag-pga","tag-shift","tag-sits","tag-sports","tag-structure","tag-tour","tag-twotiered","tag-what","tag-world","tag-worlds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}