Golf Business News – DP World Tour, IR&A and PGA Tour launch 'Global Amateur Pathway'

The DP World Tour, the R&A and the PGA TOUR have launched the Global Amateur Pathway – powered by the World Amateur Golf Ranking – to help top male novice players take the next step in their careers.

The landmark move creates a pathway for novice players not participating in the DP World Tour and partner tours around the world. The Global Amateur Pathway will partner with PGA TOUR University – which awards membership on the PGA TOUR-sanctioned Tours to the top Division-I college golfers at the end of the NCAA tournament – ​​to ensure that opportunities are available to top players at all levels of novice.

Under the Global Amateur Pathway, the best non-male novice in the WAGR top 20 will receive a DP World Tour card for the following season. The WAGR includes a women's ranking and a men's ranking for novice players and is provided by the R&A and the USGA as a global golf service. Players competing in eligible Global Amateur Pathway tournaments receive points equal to the number of points awarded by WAGR.

The Global Amateur Pathway reinforces, and demonstrates the benefits of, the strategic alliances created by the DP World Tour to provide pathways for global players. Therefore, some exemptions will be available to the European Challenge Tour – part of the European Tour Group – while the DP World Tour and the PGA TOUR work with the other 7 Tour partners, within their governing process and times, to complete its participation. The first ranking period of the Global Amateur Pathway will end on 13 October 2024 and the first release will be given for the 2025 season.

Several current members of the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour would have benefited if the Global Amateur Pathway had existed earlier. Players like Tommy Fleetwood (Southport, England), Hideki Matsuyama (Ehime, Japan) and Min Woo Lee (Perth, Australia) were rookies who relied on sponsorship releases to start their professional careers.

Fleetwood were runners-up in the 2008 Amateur Championship and represented GB&I in the 2009 Walker Cup; Matsuyama won the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship twice and became the first Japanese man to climb to No.1 in the WAGR; and Lee appeared twice at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, including finishing tied for third in 2017, and represented Australia at the 2018 World Amateur Team Championship, where he finished T6.

The Global Amateur Pathway would have provided these players with professional tour membership and a clear path forward as they work towards careers on the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour.

Guy Kinnings, DP World Tour Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted to offer the best young players new opportunities through the Global Amateur Pathway, together with our partners at The R&A and the PGA TOUR. This initiative is a great example of the benefits that come from Strategic Alliances and partnerships that we have created throughout the game of golf. The best novice players now have the same opportunities as their professional counterparts, with clear paths around the world to finally compete at the top of the game.

“This goes hand in hand with the opportunities players have come across through PGA TOUR University, and there is no better example of the benefits of that program than young European Ryder Cup star Ludvig Aberg, who grabbed every opportunity he got with both hands.

“We are very grateful to The R&A and the PGA TOUR, and every step of the way is coming together to make this dream come true for the next generation of young players.”

Martin Slumbers, CEO of the R&A, said, “We are delighted to be working in partnership with the DP World Tour and the PGA TOUR to launch the Global Amateur Pathway. We care deeply about beginner golf and developing the paths of the most talented players from different regions of the world is one of our priorities. It is the key to the sustainable future of the game.

“We continue to create opportunities for elite amateurs to compete at the highest level through our leading amateur tournaments and the Global Amateur Pathway offers players a pathway to the professional ranks. We look forward to watching them progress in their careers and will now look at opportunities to introduce a similar approach to the women's game.”

PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan commented: “We are delighted to be partnering with the DP World Tour and the R&A to take another step forward in strengthening the pathway for young athletes as they transition into professional golf. Building on the success of the PGA TOUR University over the past four years, the Global Amateur Pathway will ensure that the best young players from around the world can break into the major stages of golf more successfully than ever before.”

To qualify for the Global Amateur Pathway Ranking, novice golfers must meet the following criteria:

• Not be a current NCAA Division-I player.
• Be at least 20 years old at the end of the calendar year of the relevant Level Period.
• Be among the top 200 WAGRs.
• Players outside the top 200 WAGR at the end of the Registration Period who then move into the top 100 WAGR at any time before the end of the Late Registration Period in the relevant season.

The Global Amateur Pathway Ranking – based on WAGR – will be published weekly on the Global Amateur Pathway page following the registration period, with qualifications ending on October 13, 2024. The ranking is designed to identify and rank amateur male players (outside the NCAA). Division-I Collegiate) players who compete in eligible tournaments based on their average performance in those tournaments.