Rory McIlroy praised the new approach to the PGA Tour with DP World Tour recruiting professionals at his press conference on Tuesday at the 2026 PGA Championship. But another great champion sees things very differently.
Ian Woosnam, a DP World Tour legend and 1991 Masters champion, took to X to criticize McIlroy’s comments in support of the changes, which came from a new operating agreement established by the PGA and the DP World Tours in 2022.
Unlike Rory, Woosnam argued that one change in particular “weakens” the DP World Tour and makes it nothing more than a “feeder circuit for the PGA Tour.”
Rory McIlroy praises DP World Tour rule change at PGA Championship: ‘It’s a system that works’
When LIV Golf starts in 2022, the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour decided to strengthen their ties to stay competitive and prevent many star players from leaving.
They did so through a new 13-year operating agreement, which increased the PGA Tour’s investment in European Tour Productions to return prize money from DP World Tour events.
As part of the deal, the top 10 finishers on the DP World Tour each season will earn PGA Tour cards. That was a huge bonus for the players, who now had an extra year to graduate from the US-based tour and play for bigger purses.
Rory McIlroy laments ‘lack of’ driver strategy at PGA
By:
Dylan Dethier
Kristoffer Reitan was one of last year’s lucky winners. He finished 8th in the 2025 Race to Dubai, earning his 2026 PGA Tour card. Reitan played his way into last week’s Truist Championship, then did the unthinkable: he won, taking home a $3.6 million winner’s check in the process.
That check almost exactly matches the total winnings Reitan has collected on the DP World Tour in his career, about $3.69 million.
On Tuesday, McIlroy used Reitan’s story as evidence of the “amazing” nature of the new path from the DP World Tour to the PGA Tour.
“I think it’s amazing. And I think it speaks volumes for the DP World Tour players to get their cards,” McIlroy said Tuesday at Aronimink. “You get your PGA Tour card from that, play your way into the Signature Events, and then it’s a working program.”
McIlroy also sees Reitan’s dominant approach as a sign of “liberation” in pro golf at the moment.
“You know, meritocracy. It’s that upward trajectory that you get whenever you play well and shoot points. And Kristoffer last week is a good example of that,” McIlroy said. “It was amazing to see. When I finished and obviously I was out of the competition and I didn’t have a chance to see all the Europeans leading, that’s amazing. Nicolai, too. Obviously, Alex; Tommy.”
Ian Woosnam criticizes rule change in favor of McIlroy
In McIlroy’s estimation, a top-10 path to the PGA Tour is a “great opportunity” for players like Reitan. But he went further and argued that the rule change was a “big deal” for the DP World Tour.
“Christopher [Reitan] he comes here, he establishes himself as a winner of the PGA Tour, one of the events – without a doubt one of the biggest events on the Tour,” said McIlroy. “But also what a great thing about the DP World Tour when the PGA Tour ends in August is that Kristoffer will go back, play DP World Tour events until the end of the year, and that brings more attention, which brings more excitement at the end of that year. So I think it’s a wonderful thing.”
Kristoffer Reitan’s surprise win at Truist summed up his professional golf journey
By:
Josh Schrock
That’s where Woosnam, the former World No. 1, disagreed with the six-time major champion.
In Woosnam’s opinion, the rule change “weakens” the DP World Tour by sending its top 10 players to the US every year, as X argued.
“It’s shocking that the DP tour loses its top 10 players every year and it weakens the DP tour,” Woosnam wrote.
He went on to say that the effect of this change is turning the DP World Tour into a “feeder tour” for the PGA Tour, rather than strengthening its tournaments and futures.
“How does the DP tour bring in tournament funding when it’s losing players. What exactly is the DP tour now. I see it has a feeder tour to the PGA tour? Wow,” Woosnam wrote.
It’s amazing that the DP tour loses top 10 players every year and it weakens the DP tour
How does the DP tour fund tournaments when they lose players
And Woosnam has a point. The reality of the DP World Tour’s top players leaving every year undoubtedly weakens the European tournaments they would otherwise play.
But it’s also true that the annual race to earn a PGA Tour card adds excitement and motivation to the Race to Dubai, increasing interest in those events. PGA Tour success could also bring former DP World Tour pros like Reitan increased fame and attention, which should help the DP World Tour events they play.
In addition, things have changed a lot since Woosnam’s time, when many European stars played more often on the European Tour. Today, the PGA Tour clearly represents the pinnacle of championship golf, and most players dream of getting there eventually.
;)
