PGA TOUR cards: A look at the ten players who earned dual membership

As part of the Strategic Alliance between the DP World Tour and PGA TOUR, the top ten players on the final 2025 Race to Dubai Rankings, not otherwise exempt, have earned PGA TOUR membership for 2026.

The player who finished first on that list also qualifies for THE PLAYERS Championship and two early Signature Events in the 2026 season, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational, with the reward claimed by Marco Penge.

Here, we take a closer look at the ten players who earned dual membership for the 2026 season.

Marco Penge

Race to Dubai Ranking: 2
Best Finish: WIN (Hainan Classic, Danish Golf Championship, Open de España presented by Madrid)

Penge, who only earned his playing rights for this season thanks to a birdie on the 36th hole of the Genesis Championship in South Korea last October, entered the winner's circle three times this year during a memorable campaign where he had five other top tens - including a runner up at the Genesis Scottish Open.

After winning the Hainan Classic in April, he tasted victory at the Danish Golf Championship over the summer before becoming a three-time winner at last month's Open de España presented by Madrid.

He went into the DP World Tour Play-Offs with a chance of winning the Race to Dubai but could not overtake Rory McIlroy at the top of the standings as he finished the DP World Tour Championship in a tie for 22nd.

Penge did however finish top of this dual membership list, which means he also has qualified for THE PLAYERS Championship and two early Signature Events in the 2026 season, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational.

"It's been the year of my life," he reflected. "To have won three times and to be in contention as much as I have done, my game has improved so much, and I feel very proud of myself and everyone involved for helping me get to where I am today.

"This week obviously was disrupted at the start of the week. On Thursday, I didn't feel great. But as soon as I got off the meds on Friday, I played some really good golf. I'm proud of myself with how I've battled back into the week and finished the year with a decent result."

Laurie Canter

Race to Dubai Ranking: 7
Best Finish: WIN (Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship)

Canter nearly went all the way at the DP World Tour Championship on Sunday, finishing in a tie for third at 17 under par just to earn a career-high seventh place finish on the 2025 Race to Dubai.

It's been a remarkable comeback over the last two seasons for the Englishman. Making the most of limited starts at the start of 2024, the 35-year-old claimed his first DP World Tour title at the European Open. Somewhat of a springboard to his success, Canter won his second title this season at the 2025 Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship, defeating Dan Brown and Pablo Larrazábal in a play-off and winning the International Swing in the process. A month later, he missed out on further silverware in a play-off defeat in South Africa by Dylan Naidoo.

Despite a great run, Canter briefly fell outside of the top ten in the PGA TOUR card race in October, and was in need of a strong finish to his season.

The Englishman then holed a remarkable 'hallelujah' 100-foot eagle putt from short of the 18th green to help him finish in a tie for second at the Genesis Chanpionship in Korea to move into the sixth card spot. After a tie for 23rd in Abu Dhabi, he capped off a brilliant 2025 with his sixth top ten of the year in Dubai to take the second card on offer.

Kristoffer Reitan

Race to Dubai Ranking: 8
Best Finish: WIN (Soudal Open)

A year ago, Reitan claimed his first professional victory at the HotelPlanner Tour Grand Final, which earned him enough points for a DP World Tour card. And what began as a quiet return to the DP World Tour for the first time in five years turned into a breakout campaign for the Norwegian, who finished his year in posession of the third PGA TOUR card.

While it was a slow progression, with one tied 14th and three missed cuts from his first six starts, Reitan soon had a runner-up finish at the Hainan Classic, and two events later produced one most remarkable comebacks of the season. Overturning a nine‑shot deficit with a course‑record 62 at the Soudal Open, Reitan came out on top of a play-off with Ewen Ferguson and Darius Van Driel to claim his maiden DP World Tour title. In his next event, he ended his week in another tie for second.

Since then, there's been five more top tens for the Norweigan, including back-to-back top fives at the FedEx Open de France and Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. While he ended his season with a tie for 28th in the final event of the 2025 Race to Dubai, his performance across the year did more than enough for him to earn him dual membership for 2026.

Adrien Saddier

Race to Dubai Rank: 9
Best Finish: WIN (Italian Open)

Since Saddier made his return to the DP World Tour after earning his card in 2023 via the DP World Tour Qualifying School, he has consecutively recorded his best finishes on the Race to Dubai Rankings, finishing 87th in 2023 and then 64th in 2024. This year has followed that trend but in a much bigger way, finishing inside the top ten for the first time in his career to take the fourth PGA TOUR card.

The Frenchman finally broke through on the big stage with victory on his 200th career start at the 2025 Italian Open, winning by two strokes from compatriot Martin Couvra at Argentario GC. His maiden victory also helped him earn his debut at The Open at Royal Portrush, where he finished tied for 52nd.

Less than two months later, he followed up a tie for fifth at the Amgen Irish Open with his first ever runner-up placing on the DP World Tour, losing out to Alex Noren in a play-off at the BMW PGA Championship. With a tie for 24th at the season finale in Dubai, Saddier has now earned status on the PGA TOUR for the first time.

Alex Noren

Race to Dubai Rank: 10
Best Finish: WIN (Betfred British Masters, BMW PGA Championship)

After struggling with injuries earlier in the campaign, Noren's remarkable late season results came in the form of two DP World Tour victories in the space of a month that crowned him the winning-most Swedish player in the history of our Tour.

He began to show signs of a return to form in July and August, and after top tens on the PGA TOUR Noren broke through on the DP World Tour at the Betfred British Masters, ending a seven-year winless drought as he fought off Nicolai Højgaard and a charging Kazuma Kobori to win by one. It was the second time he had won that tournament, having also captured the title in 2016.

"I don't think I've played like this for a very long time, and to get it done at the end, a little hiccup on the last, but extremely proud of myself," he said at the time. "Super happy and super happy to do it here in Britain. I seem to love British people and British courses. So it's wonderful here."

Three weeks later, back in England, Noren won again, this time his second BMW PGA Championship. Having won the inaugural Rolex Series event at Wentworth in 2017, Noren triumphed for a second time in 2025, defeating Saddier in a play-off for his third Rolex Series victory. A week later, he acted as Vice Captain for Luke Donald's winning European Ryder Cup side at Bethpage Black.

Currently the World Number 17 and a very familiar face on the PGA TOUR, Noren finished just outside of the top 100 on the FedEx Cup Rankings, but will retain a higher status with this route. He capped off his season with a tied 17th in Abu Dhabi and a tie for 16th in Dubai.

However, there is still a slim chance Noren could retain his PGA TOUR card via the FedExCup standings through the Fall Series, which would supersede his position in the Race to Dubai Rankings - PGA TOUR Eligibility ranking. He would still need to play in the upcoming events, but if he were able to crack the top-100, it would make the number 11 finisher in the Race to Dubai Rankings eligible for dual membership – currently Dan Brown.

John Parry

Race to Dubai Rankings: 11
Best Finish: WIN (AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open)

Having won three times last year on the HotelPlanner Tour to earn automatic promotion back to the DP World Tour, Parry carried on that form in the 2025 Race to Dubai and didn't take long to celebrate more success in a season that saw a victory and six other top tens.

The Englishman got off to a great start with a tie for eighth at the BMW Australian PGA Championship and a tie for second at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa, before he secured his second DP World Tour title (on his wedding anniversary!) 14 years on from his first at the Vivendi Cup in his rookie campaign in 2010. Overturning a five-stroke deficit with a final-round 64 to win by two, Parry also went on to take the Opening Swing title in the process.

The turn of the year brought a slight dip in fortunes but Parry soon bounced back with a runner-up finish at the Magical Kenya Open. A tie for third at the Nexo Championship followed a tie for 16th on his first return to The Open since 2022, and more success in Scotland came two months later with another tied third finish at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Having cracked the top 100 in the world for the first time in his career, the 38 year old had already secured his dual membership ahead of the final event of the year, where he finished tied 28th at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Haotong Li

Race to Dubai Rankings: 13
Best Finish: WIN (Commercial Bank Qatar Masters)

With his fourth DP World Tour title and multiple top-five finishes, Haotong Li enjoyed a brilliant 2025 which led him to claim the seventh PGA TOUR card.

On his way to an early season victory, Li nervelessly holed a clutch 15-foot birdie putt at the last to edge a thrilling final-round battle against Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and win the 2025 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters by one shot, earning his first title in three years.

From the start of the season, Li was a frequent name at the top of the leaderboard as he made 14 cuts in a row, which included top tens at the Porsche Singapore Classic, Volvo China Open, Soudal Open and a runner-up finish at the Turkish Airlines Open. The week after his first missed cut of the season at the Genesis Scottish Open, Li set up a final-round pairing with Scottie Scheffler at The Open, having made the cut at the third Major of the year for the first time since 2019. Sunday went the way of Scheffler, but Li went on to finish in a share of fourth at Royal Portrush, his second top five in this event and first since finishing third on his debut in 2017.

While it wasn't the strongest finish to the second part of his season, Li made sure to end his 2025 Race to Dubai in dramatic fashion. At one point Li found himself in the share of the lead on Sunday in Dubai after starting his day with three birdies, but despite a seven and an eight on his final day scorecard, he capped off his season with an eagle at the last for a closing 68 (-4) to finish 13th on the Race to Dubai.

Keita Nakajima

Race to Dubai Rankings: 14
Best Finish: 2nd (Commercial Bank Qatar Masters)

While Nakajima may not have claimed a victory on the 2025 Race to Dubai, it was another impressive season for the Japanese star, who is now the third Japanese player to have earned dual membership in the past three years.

Having claimed a maiden DP World Tour title on just his 11th start at the 2024 Hero Indian Open last year, Nakajima proved his star power again this season with back-to-back runner-up finishes at the Porsche Singapore Classic and Hero Indian Open to win the Asian Swing, jumping him from 106th to seventh on the Race to Dubai.

After that he sandwiched two tied 11th place finishes in between five missed cuts, before a crucial fourth place at the Betfred British Masters put him back inside the top ten spots for dual membership. His love affair then continued with India at the DP World Tour India Championship, where he finished second for a third time this season.

He followed a tied 12th in Abu Dhabi with a tied 16th in Dubai, completing his season with final hole birdie at the DP World Tour Championship to confirm his spot in eighth place.

Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen

Race to Dubai Rankings: 15
Best Finish: 2nd (Commercial Bank Qatar Masters)

Neergaard-Petersen, who finished number one on the HotelPlanner Tour in 2024 after three victories, began the week on the outside looking in, but came joint third in Dubai to secure one of the ten cards.

Having only turned professional in 2023, Neergaard-Petersen finished seventh on his DP World Tour debut at that year’s BMW International Open, but it was in 2024 where he truly announced himself. He won three times on the HotelPlanner Tour to earn immediate promotion to the DP World Tour and ended the year as Road to Mallorca Rankings winner.

He recorded a top ten in his first event of the 2025 Race to Dubai, was selected to represent the Continental European side at the 2025 Team Cup and then finished tied tenth in his first Rolex Series event at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. He followed a runner-up finish in Qatar with a runner-up placing at the Peurto Rico Open on the PGA TOUR, and had more success with back-to-back top tens in China at the Volvo China Open and Hainan Classic.

The impressive nature of his campaign continued with a tie for 12th at the U.S. Open and further top tens at the Omega European Masters and Open de España presented by Madrid.

While his rookie season may be winless, he added an eighth and final top ten in the season finale to earn his dual membership in remarkable fashion. Playing in the final group alongside Rory McIlroy and needing to play the final five holes in five under, he finished eagle-birdie-par-birdie-birdie to move past Brown and Jordan Smith into ninth place in the standings.

Jordan Smith

Race to Dubai Rank: 16
Best Finish: 2nd (Volvo China Open, BMW International Open)

Securing the final dual membership, the accomplishment is a full-circle moment for Smith, who missed out by a single shot last season, finishing in the 11th spot.

Playing in Australia and South Africa at the end of 2024, Smith recorded a tie for sixth at the Nedbank Golf Challenge to put himself in a good position heading into 2025. A steady run of results came next, but it was a runner-up finish at the Volvo China Open that began a good run for the Englishman, followed by a tie for seventh in Turkey and tied fourth in Belgium.

He came close to victory for a second time at the BMW International Open, finishing two shots behind eventual winner Brown in July, and a final top five of the season came three months later at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

After last year's disappointment, Smith focused his goals on making it into the top ten this year and played 29 events, entering the final event of the season occupying the last spot.

While an opening three-over-par 75 left him on the back foot, Friday’s second round offered some relief, but left him in need of something big. He delivered with a best round of the week 64 on Saturday and 69 on Sunday enough to earn that final spot.

Speaking to the DP World Tour Green Room after his place was confirmed, Smith described himself as relieved, having missed out by that one place in 2024.