We all know that social media is not the place to seek out nuanced, well-thought-out and well-argued opinions, so it’s no surprise that the DP World Tour’s announcement of changes to Europe’s Ryder Cup qualifying procedures was met with doomsday prophecies.
Yes, placing the DP World Tour’s own Rolex Series events below the PGA Tour’s signature events, The Players Championship and the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and on par with the likes of the Rocket Mortgage Classic, the 3M Open and the John Deere Classic is a blatant admission that it is a second-tier tour. But it has always been a second-tier tour.
Even in the golden age of Seve, Faldo, Langer et al, there were some super high achievers, but most of the top players played on the PGA Tour. It's simple economics, money speaks for itself, and you wouldn't expect it any other way. If the roles were reversed and the prize money on the European Tour was roughly doubled, you would see more Americans coming to the European Tour, while the Australians, South Africans, Koreans and all those who started on the European Tour and then went to the US would never look west.
At the moment, the Ryder Cup is the only event that the DP World Tour is able to maintain in contention. McIlroy, Fleetwood, Hovland et al do not have to play a minimum number of DPWT events to qualify, and they will likely return home for the Open Championship and that's it.
Under the strategic alliance with the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour will survive, but survival is almost the limit. If this is your ambition, then that's fine, but I guess you still aspire to reach higher and become the premier golf tour on the planet, the tour that every new golfer aspires to join.
But everything has a price, and in this case, that price was abandoning the safe but stifling nest of the PGA Tour and striking a deal with an enemy. An enemy you once courted, an enemy you dealt with before, until they began to harbor ambitions to expand beyond just hosting an annual event.
Of course, I'm talking about Saudi Arabia, and more specifically the Saudi Public Investment Fund. LIV stock is undoubtedly rising, but I believe that as long as the tournament remains a 54-hole, 52-player format with shotgun tee shots, the lower cap will continue to apply.
If the European Tour and PIF were to form an alliance or merger, the DP World Tour and LIV would also be brought together, with the former being able to compete financially while the latter would gain legitimacy, world ranking points and an established pathway to the majors without either having to bow to the PGA Tour in the process.
It’s not an ideal situation, of course, and three years on, the ethical concerns that existed when the opportunity first arose have not been dispelled, but the PGA Tour has opened the door and brought the PIF to the negotiating table, and it’s becoming increasingly clear – as if it wasn’t already – that the PGA Tour’s interest in the DP World Tour is as much about bringing the best players from the European Tour to its events as it is about fending off other suitors.
The continued rise of college golf in the United States means that Europe's top young talents – such as Viktor Hovland and Ludwig Oberg in recent years – become members of the DP World Tour only after they have already established themselves on the PGA Tour and have Ryder Cup ambitions.
Now, unless Tiger Woods shows dominance like he did in a non-Rolex Series event or on the “back 9” DP World Tour, it’s unlikely that any of the players in the 2025 European Ryder Cup will come from a team that can be considered “tour regulars.” You can’t blame Luke Donald for that. His priority is to assemble the best possible team and get them into New York in September, but the Ryder Cup is held every two years, and in addition to the majors, there are about 80 tournaments in between.
The Ryder Cup is steak and lobster, but the other 80 events are the staples. Time to whip up some jams, sauces and olive oil for them.
