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What shape will a new PGA Tour/DP World Tour alliance take? (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
When the PGA Tour announced its exhaustive list of qualification criteria for the new Championship and Challenger Series model that begins in 2028, there was one significant “TBD” — exemptions for DP World Tour players.
As part of the Strategic Alliance that exists between the London-based DPWT and the PGA Tour, 10 players from the Race to Dubai standings have been earning full exemptions onto the PGA Tour for the past three years.
That qualification category is in flux likely due to myriad factors, but could one of them be the financial toll the relationship is putting on the PGA Tour?
The alliance is set to expire at the end of 2027 and PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said at the Tour Championship in August that the two sides are working on extending the agreement. Signs point toward that happening, with plans to co-sanction the Australian Open in future years and a new mutual working relationship with the Asian Tour.
But a new deal is not done and financial disclosures recently released by the DP World Tour show a rather concerning picture for the European circuit, which relies heavily on support from the PGA Tour.
Also in today’s DD …
Second guessing captain’s decisions
2027 Masters and Open exemptions
The 67 players currently qualified for the 2027 Masters
According to year-end financial figures for 2025, the PGA Tour contributed more than $77 million to the PGA European Tour, which operates the DP World Tour. That contribution is part of the strategic alliance and is up from $24 million in 2024.
The deal between the two tours was made in 2020 and saw the PGA Tour get a 15 percent ownership stake in European Tour Productions. That’s scheduled to increase to 40 percent by the end of 2027. Sports Business Journal had a summary of the report this week.
Revenue for the DP World Tour also decreased by $12 million from 2024, although its profit-before-tax figure was actually more than $3 million.
Cash reserves of nearly $110 million also make the financial picture look better.
But why would any of this be a concern to the PGA Tour?
Because as part of the strategic alliance, it has agreed to underwrite purses, which is why the DPWT has reported record purses in 2025. Basically, the PGA Tour has agreed to a year over year percentage increase in purses, regardless of how many events are played or if sponsors are lost.
For an entity such as the PGA Tour that now operates under a for-profit model, annual high eight-figure payments to its European counterpart might be reason for pause. Nobody has suggested a deal won’t get done but the competitive aspect of the situation is on hold pending a resolution.
“That’s all being discussed,” Rolapp said in June when it came to giving PGA Tour cards to the highest Race to Dubai finishers not already exempt. “It hasn’t been decided. We’ve had a really successful relationship with the DP World Tour, inclusive of those cards.
“I think as we create this new model — and the timing is very good because we’re having current discussions with the DP World Tour — that’s one of the many things we’re speaking out.”
The competitive aspect would seemingly be top of the list. So, too, would be the idea of co-sanctioning events, such as what’s already in place with the Genesis Scottish Open. The idea of more collaboration around fall national Opens is also on the table.
So too, however, must be the financial aspect of the partnership — a very interesting wrinkle in of all this. Getting it sorted soon is imperative because players need to know what they are playing for in 2027.
As for some of the reasons why revenue figures were lower for the DP World Tour, it cited a shorter media rights deal signed in 2024 due to the uncertainty of the men’s game with the emergence of LIV Golf. The DPWT has since done new deals with Sky Sports through 2029 and Golf Channel through 2030.
The DPWT said its sponsorship revenue was up more than 100 percent from pre-pandemic figures and had $260 million in sponsorship and consumer revenue, in part due to it being a Ryder Cup year (even though it was played in the United States).
The DP World Tour operates under a far different financial model than the PGA Tour, which sees all of it tournament purses covered via title sponsorship and media rights. The DP World Tour’s purses are not necessarily covered by a title sponsor and it relies heavily on Ryder Cup revenue, especially the years in which it hosts.
Tradition like every other: second guessing
There is nothing quite like the questioning of captain’s picks, especially the minute something goes wrong. Last week it was easy to wonder about Brandt Snedeker leaving world No. 12 J.J. Spaun off the U.S. team. Spaun — who won the U.S. Open last year and went 2-1 in his first Ryder Cup — finished 10th in the points but was bypassed.
Then last week on the eve of the Presidents Cup, Spaun won the DP World Tour’s flagship BMW PGA Championship.
“I knew this was going to happen,” Snedeker said when asked prior to matches at Medinah. “I told all the guys that didn’t make the team, like your job is to go make me look like an idiot as quick as possible. So I fully expect Ryan Gerard, I fully expect Gary (Woodland) to win, fully expect Akshay (Bhatia) — all these guys that were around the cusp of making this team — to go out and make me look stupid. That’s why they’re the best golfers in the world. Give them something to go set their sights on, they’re going to do it.”
Spaun didn’t hide his disappointment over not getting a pick, suggesting he felt he had all but been assured one. But Snedeker had a defense for not taking him, which he did not use: Spaun pulled out of the Tour Championship with a shoulder injury. He also earned more than half of his Presidents Cup points in 2025. So there were reasons to leave him off.
If you want to nitpick some of the U.S. struggles, it was mostly in foursomes. Spaun did not play the format at the Ryder Cup last year and said he had never played it previous to that either.
Could he have helped the U.S. side? Quite possibly, but it’s impossible to say for sure. The best reason to add him would have been if you expect him to be part of these
