Lost in LIV-PGA Tour shuffle? The DP World Tour’s massive schedule change

Last Friday afternoon, because the shadows grew lengthy in County Kildare and Shane Lowry bought up-and-down for birdie on No. 18 in entrance of an adoring house crowd, we bought a glimpse on the DP World Tour’s full potential.

All eyes had been on the Irish Open. Well, “all” may be a stretch. But there was no PGA Tour occasion going up in opposition to it. No LIV occasion, both. And afternoon golf in Ireland means morning golf in the United States, golf’s largest market, establishing the Irish Open as an ideal appetizer to varsity soccer Saturday {and professional} soccer Sunday. The golf was good on these mornings, too, with Lowry in competition, Ulsterman Rory McIlroy taking part in in the ultimate group and rising Swedish expertise Vincent Norrman outlasting each of ’em on Sunday.

Lowry known as it his “fifth major” and “one of the greatest events in the world”. Countryman Padraig Harrington known as the native curiosity in the occasion “enormous” and “brilliant.” McIlroy was impressed, although not shocked, by the massive turnout.

“No matter where we play The Irish Open, the crowds always come out.”

In different phrases, it was a banner week for the Irish Open — and for the DP World Tour. And they plan to have one other banner week at this week’s BMW PGA Championship, the place not simply McIlroy and Lowry but additionally their 10 European Ryder Cup teammates shall be in attendance. That’s a crowd headlined by latest FedEx Cup champ Viktor Hovland, World No. 3 Jon Rahm and Englishmen Tommy Fleetwood, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton — sufficient star energy to outshine the competitors on the PGA Tour’s Fortinet Championship, which kicks off its personal fall marketing campaign this weekend.

In quick, it looks as if that is Europe’s probability to have a second, and nicely, that’s precisely the purpose. Over the final 18 months the DP World Tour — a mainstay of {the golfing} world for the final half-century — has been too typically misplaced in the shuffle between LIV and the PGA Tour, dismissed amongst the drama, relegated to a distant third in the collective consciousness of the informal golf fan. Nowhere was that higher exemplified than in June, when the DP World Tour pushed again its schedule launch on account of the sudden settlement between the Saudi PIF, the PGA Tour and (you’re forgiven in case you forgot they had been included, too) the DP World Tour.

The circuit did ultimately launch its new schedule, although. In mid-August — and in the midst of the FedEx Cup Playoffs — they dropped the outlook for 2024 together with what can finest be described as a viewer’s information to assist make sense of it. When your schedule consists of 13 months, 5 continents, 24 nations and 44 tournaments, you want some assist with studying comprehension. Look, I’ve zero affiliation with the DP World Tour (or the PGA Tour, or every other tour). And I’d say that as a fan of European golf it has been tough to make sense of the the place, why and when of the DP World’s schedule in latest years. But this newest model? It’s remarkably coherent. It makes quite a lot of sense. It reads just like the skeleton of one thing nice. And it nonetheless could have one deadly flaw. Let’s dive in.

What is DP World, anyway?

Gosh, that’s a terrific query. The DP World Tour is the artist previously generally known as the European Tour, and whereas the DP World Tour displays the title of its new sponsor it additionally displays its new ethos: worldwide. While the second half of the season nonetheless seems an terrible lot like your mother and father’ European Tour, the remainder of the schedule displays that “World” a part of the entire deal. So it’s a logical sponsor; add two letters and also you get the DP World Tour.

As for the sponsor itself? DP World is a self-described “world leader in global supply chain solutions.” The DP stands for “Dubai Ports.” It’s a Dubai-based logistics firm that handles an absolute boatload (scientific time period) of containers daily. Their title sponsorship? That got here because of a reported promise of $400 million over the following decade, starting in Nov. 2021.

“With a year-round calendar, and a truly global footprint, golf is a sport that reflects the nature of our business,” reads DP World’s website. No kidding.

How will the Saudi PIF be concerned?

That is a terrific query that we’ll, for the needs of this text, largely ignore till we all know extra in regards to the decision of talks between all events. Is there a world the place we see extra DP World occasions with Saudi sponsors like nationwide oil firm Aramco, a serious Formula 1 sponsor? For certain. But we’re not there but, so let’s first take the schedule as at the moment constructed.

What does the brand new schedule appear like?

Again, glad you requested. The bulk of the schedule is split into 5 “swings” earlier than its fall finale. Those swings present some geographic coherence to the entire operation. They even have particular person payouts; the winner of every swing will get $200,000 from a $1 million “swing” prize pool and qualifies for the “Back 9” — however we’ll get to that. Let’s first check out the cornerstones of the brand new schedule.

1. Opening Swing

Australia and South Africa host the primary six occasions of the 2024 season. The actual catch? This swing of the 2024 schedule concludes earlier than 2024 even begins. This is basically a bunch of co-sanctioned occasions, with two (the Australian PGA Championship and Australian Open) in Aussie and the opposite 4 in Africa. The AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open wraps up on Dec. 17, 2023, comfortably earlier than the start of the…

2. International Swing

In this case “international” refers to a stretch of golf performed in the Middle East and into Africa to start the 2024 calendar season (Jan. 11-Mar. 10). That means the Dubai Invitational. It means the Hero Dubai Desert Classic the next week, the primary of 5 Rolex Series occasions with $9 million purses. Then it means a 3rd consecutive occasion in the United Arab Emirates earlier than heading to Bahrain, Kenya and twice extra to South Africa. A flight from the UAE to South Africa isn’t precisely a puddle-jumper, however we’re staying inside a pair time zones for a pair months. At least till we get to…

3. Asian Swing

In 2023 the DP World Tour made its most important foray but into Asia, and it’s clear from the 2024 schedule that was hardly a one-off. The Asian Swing (Mar. 21-May 19) consists of stops in Singapore, South Korea, Japan, China and, in fact, Augusta, Ga. for the Masters and Louisville Ky. for the PGA Championship. Okay, in order that a part of the schedule remains to be a bit of awkward for prime professionals. But we’re getting there. Just just like the DP World Tour will get again to its roots in the…

4. European Swing

These subsequent occasions could fall beneath the class of “European Tour events that you’ve heard of but haven’t necessarily watched very much of.” That’s as a result of we’re operating from May 23-July 7 right here, which is primetime so that you can be A. watching the PGA Tour or B. having fun with summertime in a way that doesn’t contain golf on tv. We’re guessing it’s in all probability A.

Anyway, this stretch is the Tour’s first journey to continental Europe for the summer season; it goes from Belgium to Germany to Sweden to the Netherlands to Italy to Germany, every of these oriented round Pinehurst’s U.S. Open in mid-June. Which brings us to the ultimate main of the 12 months, which takes place in the midst of the…

5. Closing Swing

The Closing Swing has its highlights, starting with a visit to the co-sanctioned PGA Tour/DP World’s Genesis Scottish Open and operating by the Open Championship after which the Olympics in France. From there, the common season winds down with occasions on the Czech Masters and the Danish Golf Championship. Which leads us to…

What are the playoffs?

What comes subsequent might be regarded as the “Best Swing.” They’re calling it the “Back 9,” which works positive, too. But the post-Tour Championship rundown right here is nothing wanting spectacular. Say you’re McIlroy or Lowry and also you desire a quick break after the FedEx Cup Playoffs to relaxation and watch school soccer. You can try this! Skip the British Masters and even perhaps the dreamy European Masters at alpine vacation spot resort Crans-sur-Sierre GC. But don’t miss the Horizon Irish Open, which is held in 2024 at Royal County Down, the most effective golf programs on the planet. Then there’s the Rolex Series on the BMW PGA at Wentworth and a closing collection of fall occasions that features stops in Madrid, on the Old Course at St. Andrews and Le Golf National.

Once once more the year-end Race to Dubai will conclude, logically, in Dubai, however this time there shall be a two-week “playoffs” to assist decide the champion.

That first week they’ll contact down at Yas Links in Abu Dhabi for the penultimate occasion of the season. Then they’ll return to Dubai for the DP World Tour Championship, an occasion hosted at Jumeirah Golf Estates’ North Course.

At the conclusion of the season the main ten gamers will divvy up a $6 million bonus pool whereas the highest ten in the Race to Dubai Rankings who aren’t already exempt will earn PGA Tour playing cards for the 2025 season.

Three huge questions stay:

1. Who goes to play?

Last week we had the standard thrilling Irish suspects, from Lowry and McIlroy to Padraig Harrington (and to Seamus Power, too, earlier than he withdrew as a result of harm). European golf followers are like golf followers anyplace; they’ll flock to see stars. This week at Wentworth will deliver loads of these, too. And the Ryder Cup brings its personal star energy, too, however that occurs in Europe solely each 4 years.

The query for the remainder of the occasions is simply what number of PGA Tour stars — assume Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Tommy Fleetwood — will present as much as play frequently. The schedule may be terrific whereas nonetheless counting on a couple of guys to essentially pop. The PGA Tour’s reimagined fall schedule emerged in half from prime professionals’ wishes for an offseason. How a lot will they actually fill that offseason with DP World Tour golf?

There’s additionally the problem of the DP Drain. The PGA Tour has cemented itself as the highest circuit in the world and the DP World now feeds on to it — the highest 10 on the finish of the season now earn their PGA Tour playing cards, which incentivizes them to play much less in Europe and world wide. I’ve talked to a couple gamers who fear that is an personal purpose on the DPWT’s half. If you let your prime expertise go elsewhere annually, who’s left?

2. Can the DP World Tour personal the autumn?

Perhaps they don’t actually need to “own” the autumn however no less than carve out their place inside it. But there’s a motive the PGA Tour ceded the autumn to soccer. Is the attract of late-summer Irish hyperlinks and familiarity with St. Andrews and the big-money finale in Dubai sufficient to attract golf followers’ eyeballs, at the same time as their very own golf seasons come to a detailed?

I hope so.

It does seem to be there’s sufficient differentiation between the DP World’s new fall season and the PGA Tour’s new fall season for each to exist in parallel. And the brand new playoff construction means there’s a clearer conclusion to the DP World’s 12 months, too. LIV stays an X-factor right here, too, because it wraps up its personal season in the autumn. But LIV can also be an X-factor in our closing query, which is…

3. Can the DP World Tour personal the world?

When LIV’s occasion in Adelaide went off swimmingly with locals earlier this 12 months it appeared as if the startup circuit had tapped into one thing particular by bringing star energy to an underserved group of golf followers. But LIV’s 14-event schedule implies that its potential to go in all places is restricted; this 12 months’s schedule spanned simply seven nations and held eight occasions in the United States.

There are offshoots of LIV that additionally deliver some star energy across the globe; the affiliated International Series introduced stars to surprising locations (like Brooks Koepka in Oman), and the highest seven finishers on the International Series England had been all LIV professionals. But the DP World Tour is now uniquely located to globe-trot from continent to continent, touching ’em all save for South America and Antarctica.

Anybody know an sponsor on the South Pole?

Dylan Dethier

Golf.com Editor

Dylan Dethier is a senior author for GOLF Magazine/GOLF.com. The Williamstown, Mass. native joined GOLF in 2017 after two years scuffling on the mini-tours. Dethier is a graduate of Williams College, the place he majored in English, and he’s the creator of 18 in America, which particulars the 12 months he spent as an 18-year-old residing from his automotive and taking part in a spherical of golf in each state.