Tom McKibbin earned the 10th and final PGA Tour card from the Race to Dubai standings on the European tour last year. He joined Saudi-backed LIV Golf in late January, too late for the player who was 11th on the list — Jordan Smith — to take his place and get a PGA Tour card.
Maybe it was just as well.
Of the nine players (minus McKibbin) who took PGA Tour cards this year, only Rasmus Hojgaard of Denmark has secured his U.S. card for 2026.
Hojgaard, the top qualifier among last year’s class, also is the only one so far to keep cards on both tours. He is No. 34 in Europe and playing the DP World Tour Championship this week. He also played in his first Ryder Cup.
Two tournaments remain for the other eight to finish in the top 100 of the FedExCup (or win) to keep full status. Thorbjorn Olesen is looking good at No. 95 in the FedExCup (he also kept his European tour status at No. 98).
Jesper Svensson of Sweden is at No. 121. No one else from that group is in the top 50. Paul Waring of England had to effectively shut down his year in July with a shoulder injury.
Getting starts was not the problem. Except for Waring, who played 12 times before his injury, the average number of PGA Tour starts for the European tour graduates was about 20. The bigger issue was no access to the $20 million signature events with elevated FedExCup points.
Hojgaard played three of them — two as the top qualifier from Europe, and the Truist Championship as one of the top five players not already eligible in events leading up to it.
As for Smith?
With the career Grand Slam locked up, Rory McIlroy isn’t fully content — he’s just hungrier for certain goals.
He was annoyed by the circumstances of last year. Everyone knew McKibbin was contemplating a jump to LIV Golf. But the PGA Tour season had already started and the 10 players were locked in. Smith has said getting to the PGA Tour “is a big goal of mine.”
“It’s just one of those things you have to take on the chin and use it as fuel to get one of those cards the next time,” Smith told the Daily Mail in June.
Smith currently is No. 15 in the Race to Dubai and holding down what would be the 10th spot to earn a PGA Tour card going into the season finale this week. Smith has a 135-point lead over Martin Couvra of France and a 174-point lead over Daniel Hillier.
Current top 10 in the standings:
1. Marco Penge
2. Kristoffer Reitan
3. Adrien Saddier
4. John Parry
5. Alex Noren
6. Laurie Canter
7. Haotong Li
8. Daniel Brown
9. Keita Nakajima
10. Jordan Smith
