by Mathieu Wood
Sami Välimäki is the fourth DP World Tour member over the past two seasons to capitalise on a formalised pathway and become a PGA TOUR winner.
Since 2023, the leading ten players on the Race to Dubai Rankings who are based on the DP World Tour earn access to the PGA TOUR as dual members of both tours.
Born from the DP World Tour and PGA TOUR’s Strategic Alliance, the initiative has seen four different players – accounting for six different victories between them – become worldwide winners.
With his victory at the RSM Classic in Georgia on Sunday, Välimäki became the first Finn to win on the PGA TOUR.
Following on from Matthieu Pavon, Robert MacIntyre and Ryan Fox, the 27-year-old is the fourth member of the inaugural cohort from the 2023 Race to Dubai Rankings to win a PGA TOUR title.
Read below for a look at the players who have triumphed on the PGA TOUR since furthering their careers as dual members, while maintaining their playing rights and commitment to the DP World Tour.
Sami Välimäki
• Age: 27
• PGA TOUR win: 2025 RSM Classic
• *Official World Golf Ranking: 40
A graduate of the Qualifying School in 2019, the Finn won his maiden DP World Tour title on his fifth start of the 2020 season in a play-off with Brandon Stone at the Oman Open.
That same season, he was named as the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year 2020 after finishing 11th on the Race to Dubai Rankings.
It would take more than three years for him to add his second DP World Tour title, enjoying further success in the Middle East at the 2023 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters – again in a play-off against Jorge Campillo.
The victory, alongside two other runner-up finishes, saw him finish as the sixth highest non-exempt finisher on the Race to Dubai Rankings and claim his PGA TOUR card.
While he had played in Major Championships, World Golf Championships and the Olympics, Välimäki had never played in a regular PGA TOUR event prior to the start of its 2024 season.
I didn’t take long for him to challenge though, finishing second to American Jake Knapp at the Mexico Open at Vidanta in his fifth start as a dual member – a result that proved instrumental in him retaining his full playing rights.
Despite two top tens, he missed out on the FedExCup Play-Offs in his second season, but finished the year on a high by capping a strong sequence in the Fall Series by winning the RSM Classic.
The result – two weeks on from a runner-up finish at the World Wide Technology Championship – means he earns a two-year exemption on the PGA TOUR and is assured of playing the first two $20million Signature Events of 2026 by finishing 51st in the FedExCup.
Sami Välimäki wins on the @PGATOUR 🏆🇫🇮 pic.twitter.com/nWR2oHYDoB
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 23, 2025
Matthieu Pavon
• Age: 33
• PGA TOUR win: 2024 Farmers Insurance Open
• *Official World Golf Ranking: 192
The Frenchman earned his DP World Tour card through the HotelPlanner Tour, finishing sixth on their season-long rankings in 2016.
After maintaining his status for the next six seasons, finishing runner-up on three occasions during that time span, his breakthrough came in 2023.
With five top tens that season already to his name, he landed his maiden DP World Tour title – on his 185th start – in wire-to-wire fashion at the Open de España.
The success prompted a strong finish to his campaign, ending the DP World Tour Championship with four straight birdies to secure his PGA TOUR card.
While his DP World Tour breakthrough was long-awaited, he made a near immediate impact stateside, winning the Farmers Insurance Open in his third start as a PGA TOUR member, becoming the first player representing France to win on the tour since World War II.
He would finish fifth at the U.S. Open later in 2024, shortly after reaching a career-high 20th in the world after finishing in a tie for 12th on his Masters debut.
He would play his way through to the TOUR Championship and ended the campaign 17th in the FedEx Cup Rankings.
Playing with the freedom that comes with a two-year exemption, Pavon was unable to hit those same heights in his second PGA TOUR campaign – he missed ten cuts across his 26 appearances and went without a top ten.
Robert MacIntyre
• Age: 29
• PGA TOUR wins: 2024 RBC Canadian Open, 2024 Genesis Scottish Open (co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour)
• *Official World Golf Ranking: 7
The Scot – undisputedly the player whose career has transformed the most as a result of the pathway – graduated to the DP World Tour at the end of the 2018 HotelPlanner Tour season.
He finished second on three occasions in 2019 and was named Rookie of the Year, comfortably qualifying for the season finale in Dubai.
A maiden DP World Tour title followed in 2020 in Cyprus, before he added his second at the 2022 Italian Open in a play-off with Matt Fitzpatrick at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club.
While he would go without a victory in 2023, it would still be an excellent campaign as he made his Ryder Cup debut in Italy and claimed his PGA TOUR card for the first time after a season that featured seven top tens, including a runner-up finish on home soil at the Genesis Scottish Open - co-sanctioned with the PGA TOUR.
He openly admitted to initially struggling to settle into life as a dual member in 2024, but form picked up and he enjoyed an emotional maiden PGA TOUR title at the RBC Canadian Open with his father, Dougie, on his bag.
A month later, he became the second Scot, and first since Colin Montgomerie in 1999, to win his national open, playing the final five holes to in four under to win by one at the Renaissance Club.
After finishing 17th in the FedEx Cup Rankings at the end of his debut PGA TOUR season, coincidentally tied alongside fellow rookie Pavon, MacIntyre has since continued to climb in stature in the world game.
In his second campaign on the PGA TOUR, he twice finished second – at the U.S. Open and then at the BMW Championship during the FedEx Cup Play-Offs. Across his 23 starts, he made 21 cuts.
Back on the DP World Tour, he won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship as his performances on both sides of the Atlantic saw him rise from 14th to a career-high seventh in the world. He also made his second Ryder Cup appearance, helping Team Europe retain the trophy.
Ryan Fox
• Age: 38
• PGA TOUR wins: 2025 Oneflight Myrtle Beach Classic, 2025 RBC Canadian Open
• *Official World Golf Ranking: 41
The New Zealander is the joint longest-serving DP World Tour member of this quartet, having come through the HotelPlanner Tour in 2016.
He successfully retained his playing rights in his first two seasons on the Race to Dubai, before landing his first DP World Tour title at the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth in 2019.
Twice a winner in 2022 – at the Ras Al Khaimah Classic and Alfred Dunhill Links Championship – he finished second to Rory McIlroy in the Rankings in 2022 and won the Seve Ballesteros Award.
He struggled for consistency in the first half of 2023, mixing starts on the PGA TOUR with appearances on the DP World Tour.
After a top five in Ireland, he became a Rolex Series winner a week later at the BMW PGA Championship and then finished in a tie for second on his title defence at the Dunhill Links in Scotland.
Such was his form in those events, he finished fifth on the Rankings and claimed his full playing rights stateside for 2024, a year in which he found adjusting to the demands of playing on both tours “tough”.
But things have since come together, with the father of two winning twice in 2025 stateside – at the Myrtle Beach Classic and then at the Canadian Open.
On both occasions he won in a play-off, with the wins – coming one shortly after another – vaulting him from outside the world’s top 100 to just outside the top 30.
His second campaign stateside ended at the BMW Championship - the second of three play-off events.
*Official World Golf Ranking as of 24/11/2025
