The European tour is down to its final eight events, with Patrick Reed in front on the Race to Dubai. His tie for second in the Irish Open expanded his lead over Rory McIlroy to 840 points.
Reed also is a lock to get a PGA Tour card offered to the leading 10 players in the Race to Dubai not already exempt. Only three of the top 13 players on the current points list — McIlroy, British Open champion Ryan Fox and PGA champion Aaron Rai — already have PGA Tour membership.
Eugenio Chacarra, at No. 3 and 84 points behind McIlroy in the Race to Dubai, is virtually a lock. He left Oklahoma State for LIV Golf, got out when it wasn’t all he thought it would be, and became the first ex-LIV player to get a PGA Tour sponsor exemption (Puerto Rico) earlier this year.
He is followed by South Africans Casey Jarvis and Jayden Schaper, one-time Ryder Cup player Andy Sullivan, Jacob Skov Olesen, Bernd Wiesberger, Oliver Lindell, Daniel Hillier and Nacho Elvira.
Wiesberger also had a PGA Tour card before defecting to LIV. But he lasted only two years before finishing out of the top 40. The Austrian has been back on the European tour the last three years.
Missing from the Race to Dubai ranking is Joaquin Niemann, who won the Australian Open as part of the 2023-24 season for a two-year exemption on the European tour. Niemann, however, lost his European membership when he failed to meet the minimum required tournaments last year, playing only three times outside of the majors.
