Meet the 10 DP World Tour members who earned dual PGA TOUR membership for 2025

Rory McIlroy won the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, an emotional cap to his sixth season-long Race to Dubai title, but McIlroy wasn’t the only winner at the DP World Tour’s season finale in Dubai.

Led by Denmark’s Rasmus Højgaard, thetop 10 players on the DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking earned dual PGA TOUR membership for 2025. (The list mirrored the Race to Dubai standings but didn’t include players already exempt on the PGA TOUR for 2025, such as McIlroy, Billy Horschel and Tommy Fleetwood.)

By finishing No. 1, Højgaard qualifies for THE PLAYERS Championship and two early Signature Events in the 2025 season, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational. Højgaard will be exempt from reshuffles on the 2025 PGA TOUR, with the remaining nine players joining graduates from the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry in a category on the PGA TOUR Priority Ranking that is subject to periodic reshuffles.

Antoine Rozner and Tom McKibbin moved inside the top 10 at the DP World Tour Championship, with Jordan Smith and Sebastian Soderberg falling outside.

This marked the second year where the top 10 on the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai, not otherwise exempt, have earned PGA TOUR membership. Two members of the inaugural class, Robert MacIntyre and Matthieu Pavon, won on TOUR in 2024.

Note: In the event a player in the top 10 on the final DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking chooses not to accept PGA TOUR membership, the spot will go to the next highest available player on the ranking. Players have until Nov. 29 to accept membership.

Read below for a capsule look at the 10 players who earned the opportunity for dual membership on the 2025 PGA TOUR via the 2024 DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking:

Rasmus Højgaard

Age: 23
Official World Golf Ranking: 58th

Højgaard nearly earned his PGA TOUR card through the pathway a year ago, but a late surge by Matthieu Pavon at the DP World Tour Championship knocked Højgaard out.

He left no doubt this year. On the back of his win at the Amgen Irish Open, where he fended off Rory McIlroy, Højgaard finished second in the DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking and is headed to the TOUR. Oh, and he will reunite with his twin brother, Nicolai, in the process.

Højgaard, 23, has already won five times on the DP World Tour. He won his first title at 18, becoming the third-youngest player to win on the DP World Tour. Højgaard amassed seven top-10 finishes this season and did not miss a cut.

• Career wins worldwide: 5; 2019 AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open (DP World Tour), 2020 ISPS HANDA UK Championship (DP World Tour), 2021 Omega European Masters (DP World Tour), 2023 Made in HimmerLand (DP World Tour), 2024 Amgen Irish Open (DP World Tour)
• Career PGA TOUR starts: 22
• PGA TOUR cuts made: 12
• Best PGA TOUR finish: 6th, 2022 Corales Puntacana Championship

Thriston Lawrence

Age: 27
Official World Golf Ranking: 47th

It’s a testament to his consistency that Lawrence finished No. 2 on the DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking despite not winning on the DP World Tour this season. The South African finished the year with five runners-up and five other top-10s in 25 events but didn’t win. That’s no matter, he’s headed to the PGA TOUR.

It shouldn’t be the first time golf fans have heard Lawerence’s name. He was introduced to American fans earlier this summer, holding the lead on the back nine Sunday at The Open Championship. He finished three back of eventual champion Xander Schauffele but flashed the talent he hopes to replicate across the pond in the U.S.

• Career wins worldwide: 6; 2019 Vodacom Origins Stellenboch (Sunshine Tour); 2021 Joburg Open (DP World Tour), 2022 Omega European Masters (DP World Tour), 2022 Investec South African Open Championship (DP World Tour), 2023 BMW International Open (DP World Tour), 2024 Sunbet Challenge Times Square Casino (Sunshine Tour)
• Career PGA TOUR starts: 15
• PGA TOUR cuts made: 6
• Best PGA TOUR finish: 4th, 2024 Open Championship

Paul Waring

Age: 39
Official World Golf Ranking: 105th

The 39-year-old Englishman will head to the PGA TOUR for the first time as an 18-year professional. Waring put up his best season on the DP World Tour, finishing fifth in the Race to Dubai after claiming his second win – the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship – in his 332nd appearance and six years after his first victory at the Nordea Masters, which came on his 200th start.

Waring kicked off his season with an 11th-place finish at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in December 2023 and sat around the 50th spot on the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai rankings for much of the season with eyes on making it to the season-ending DP World Tour Championship. This all changed when he carded a final-round 6-under 66 to win the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship for the biggest victory of his career and secure a PGA TOUR card for 2025.

"It’s going to be a long way to travel, a long commute over to America,” Waring said after the victory. “But I’m looking forward to that. It’s a new challenge. Absolutely made up.”

• Career wins worldwide: 2; 2018 Nordea Masters (DP World Tour), 2024 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship (DP World Tour)
• Career PGA TOUR starts: 11
• PGA TOUR cuts made: 4
• Best PGA TOUR finish: T8, 2019 WGC-HSBC Champions

Jesper Svensson

Age: 28
Official World Golf Ranking: 108th

Svensson shares the same name as a successful professional bowler, but rest assured golf's Jesper Svensson has done plenty to make a name for himself, especially at North Carolina’s Campbell University, where he twice won the Big South Conference title (2017, ’19). In the first of those victories, Svensson shot 14-under 202 to break the 10-year-old scoring record of Coastal Carolina’s Dustin Johnson.

Success has come quickly as a professional, as Svensson accrued victories on the Nordic Golf League in 2020 and Europe’s Challenge Tour in 2023 to secure his DP World Tour card for 2024. True to form, Svensson, who twice represented Sweden in the European Team Championship, got a fast start again in 2024, besting Kiradech Aphibarnrat in a playoff at the Porsche Singapore Classic in March.

Appearances at this year’s PGA Championship, Genesis Scottish Open, and Open Championship – he made two of three cuts – suggest he’ll do fine on the PGA TOUR. Perhaps, as is his wont and in the manner of Robert MacIntyre and Mathieu Pavon, he’ll even win straightaway.

• Career wins worldwide: 3; 2020 Race to HimmerLand (Nordic Golf League), 2023 B-NL Challenge Trophy (Challenge Tour), 2024 Porsche Singapore Classic (DP World Tour)
• Career PGA TOUR starts: 3
• PGA TOUR cuts made: 2
• Best PGA TOUR finish: T34, 2024 Genesis Scottish Open

Niklas Norgaard

Age: 32
Official World Golf Ranking: 89th

The Dane turned professional in 2015 and has competed on several circuits including the Nordic Golf League (on which he won the 2019 Order of Merit) and Challenge Tour (finishing 16th on the 2021 season-long standings to earn DP World Tour membership) as he has steadily climbed the ranks of professional golf.

Norgaard authored a career highlight in 2024, earning his first DP World Tour title at the Betfred British Masters in early September – joining fellow Danes Thomas Bjørn and Thorbjørn Olesen as winners of the event. Norgaard added a runner-up at the Soudal Open and four other top-10 finishes, en route to a comfortable spot in the top 10 on the DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking and thus his first TOUR card for 2025.

• Career wins worldwide: 4; 2011 Willis Masters (Nordic Golf League – as an amateur), 2019 Race to HimmerLand (Nordic Golf League), 2020 Esbjerg Open presented by Total (Nordic Golf League), 2024 Betfred British Masters (DP World Tour)
• Career PGA TOUR starts: 3
• PGA TOUR cuts made: 2
• Best PGA TOUR finish: T15, 2024 Genesis Scottish Open

Matteo Manassero

Age: 31
Official World Golf Ranking: 87th

Playing on the biggest stage once seemed like Manassero’s birthright. At 16, he finished T13 at the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry, where he played the first two rounds alongside then-59-year-old Tom Watson. Manassero made the cut at the 2010 Masters, was among the top 30 in the world, and racked up four quick DP World Tour victories.

Then Manassero vanished, a prodigy suddenly overcome by doubt. One bad week led to the next, and soon he lost his DP World Tour status and even briefly stepped away from the game.

Upon his return, Manassero, who dropped all the way to world No. 1,805, bounced between the Alps Tour and Challenge Tour. He called Francesco Molinari, the ne plus ultra of Italian golf, for guidance. Manassero made big changes in 2019, he said, and the game came back. He won twice on the Challenge Tour last season, and in March broke a nearly 11-year win drought with his fifth DP World Tour victory at the Jonsson Workwear Open in South Africa.

Now he’s back in the majors and set to return to the PGA TOUR for the first time since he was a Special Temporary Member in 2014. Manassero who works with Søren Hansen (coach of Nicolai and Rasmus Højgaard), is 31 now, and his wild ride will now include dual membership.

• Career wins worldwide: 7; 2010 CASTELLO MASTERS Costa Azahar (DP World Tour), 2011 Maybank Malaysian Open (DP World Tour), 2012 Barclays Singapore Open (DP World Tour), 2013 BMW Championship (DP World Tour), 2023 Italian Challenge Open (Challenge Tour), 2023 Copenhagen Challenge presented by Ejner Hessel (Challenge Tour), 2024 Jonsson Workwear Open (DP World Tour)
• Career PGA TOUR starts: 38
• PGA TOUR cuts made: 25
• Best PGA TOUR finish: T8, 2014 Valspar Championship

Thorbjørn Olesen

Age: 34
Official World Golf Ranking: 70th

Olesen started the year with a win at the DP World Tour’s Ras Al Khaimah Championship and a year on from earning a PGA TOUR card through the DP World Tour top 10, he’s done it again. Despite giving himself an F+ for his 2023 season on the PGA TOUR, the Dane went 10-for-16 of cuts made on the TOUR, highlighted by a T14-best finish in the Valero Texas Open, but finished the 2024 FedExCup regular season at 157th.

Olesen returned to the DP World Tour for the fall to focus on a push to earn status once again and hit form towards the end of the season with finishes of T12 (Alfred Dunhill Links Championship), T2 (FedEx Open de France) T7 (Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters) and T3 (Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship) to jump inside the top 10.

Olesen’s first stint on the PGA TOUR came when he earned Special Temporary Membership in 2013 and then spent one season with status (2013-14). Career highlights include being a member of Europe's winning 2018 Ryder Cup team at Le Golf National, in Paris, and eight DP World Tour victories.

• Career wins worldwide: 9; 2010 The Princess (Challenge Tour), 2012 Sicilian Open (DP World Tour), 2014 ISPS HANDA Perth International (DP World Tour), 2015 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (DP World Tour), 2016 Turkish Airlines Open (DP World Tour); 2018 Italian Open (DP World Tour), 2022 Betfred British Masters (DP World Tour), 2023 Thailand Classic, 2023 Ras Al Khaimah Championship (DP World Tour)
• Career PGA TOUR starts: 78
• PGA TOUR cuts made: 46
• Best PGA TOUR finish: T3, 2018 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational

Antoine Rozner

Age: 31
Official World Golf Ranking: 154th

Rozner moved inside the top 10 in dramatic fashion at the DP World Tour Championship, tying for third at the season finale to vault from No. 15 to No. 8 on the DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking.

The Frenchman, who has ranked as high as No. 63 on the Official World Golf Ranking, entered the season finale on the strength of back-to-back top-six finishes at the Genesis Championship and Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, and he rode the hot hand to his first TOUR card. Rozner hails from Paris but played collegiately at the University of Missouri-Kansas City before returning to Europe for the first portion of his professional career.

He'll now have more options than ever as a 2025 PGA TOUR member.

• Career wins worldwide: 5; 2019 Challenge de España (Challenge Tour), 2019 Prague Golf Challenge (Challenge Tour), 2020 Golf in Dubai Championship (DP World Tour), 2021 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters (DP World Tour), 2022 AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open (DP World Tour)
• Career PGA TOUR starts: 9
• PGA TOUR cuts made: 6
• Best PGA TOUR finish: T18, 2021 WGC-Dell Match Play and the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday

Rikuya Hoshino

Age: 28
Official World Golf Ranking: 132nd

Hoshino, 28, has been a commanding presence on the Japan Golf Tour for much of his career, already a six-time winner in eight years as a pro. He added his first DP World Tour title at this year’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, after beginning the season with back-to-back runner-up finishes in Australia last fall. With four additional top-10 finishes, it was enough to cement his first PGA TOUR card for 2025, as he entered the DP World Tour Championship at No. 8 on the DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking and finished No. 9 overall after a T28 at the season finale.

For the second straight year, a Japanese pro will earn dual TOUR membership via the DP World Tour; Hoshino follows the lead of Ryo Hisatsune a season ago.

• Career wins worldwide: 7; 2018 Fujisankei Classic (Japan Golf Tour), 2019 Dunlop Srixon Fukushima Open (Japan Golf Tour), 2020 Fujisankei Classic (Japan Golf Tour), 2021 Asia Pacific Diamond Cup Golf (Japan Golf Tour), 2021 Kansai Open Golf Championship (Japan Golf Tour), 2022 Heiwa PGM Championship (Japan Golf Tour), 2024 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters (DP World Tour)
• Career PGA TOUR starts: 19
• PGA TOUR cuts made: 10
• Best PGA TOUR finish: T26, 2021 U.S. Open

Tom McKibbin

Age: 21
Official World Golf Ranking: 111th

McKibbin, a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland, grew up playing at Holywood Golf Club, the same home club as 26-time PGA TOUR winner Rory McIlroy. Now he’ll join McIlroy on the PGA TOUR.

McKibbin earned the 10th and final card via the DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking, sweating out some nervous moments Sunday afternoon in Dubai before his T11 at the season finale was ultimately enough to move from 11th to 10th on the standings, supplanting Jordan Smith for the final spot by just 10 points.

McKibbin turned pro in 2021 at age 18; he had planned to play collegiately at the University of Florida, but the COVID-19 pandemic altered his plans. He earned his DP World Tour card via the 2022 Challenge Tour, finishing No. 10 on the season-long standings, and earned his first DP World Tour title at the Porsche European Open. He didn’t win in 2024 but steady play carried the day, including a runner-up at the Italian Open and a solo fourth at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. McKibbin shared a heartfelt moment with McIlroy on Sunday afternoon in Dubai – with many more to come.

• Career wins worldwide: 1; 2023 Porsche European Open (DP World Tour)
• Career PGA TOUR starts: 4
• PGA TOUR cuts made: 3
• Best PGA TOUR finish: T35, 2023 Genesis Scottish Open