Min Woo Lee has signed off on his last full DP World Tour season for the foreseeable future with a solid T-15 result at the European circuit’s finale in Dubai.
The Perth tour pro, who will play on the PGA Tour in 2024, carded a 69 at Jumeirah Golf Estates’ Earth course to finish at 13-under par, eight shots behind Danish winner Nicolai Hojgaard.
The 25-year-old Lee was already exempt for the PGA Tour in 2024 courtesy of having 505 non-member FedEx Cup points which secured him status in the US next year. That was built off hot finishes at the Players Championship (T-6) and the US Open at LA Country Club (T-5).
Meanwhile, Lee’s peers in Dubai were vying for 10 PGA Tour cards on offer to the top 10 (not already exempt) points earners on the final DP World Tour rankings. Those players were defending Australian Open champion (4) Adrian Meronk, who is en route to Australia for the summer of golf, as well as (5) Ryan Fox, (7) Victor Perez, (9) Thorbjorn Olesen, (11) Alexander Bjork, (12) Sami Valimaki, (13) Robert MacIntyre, (15) Matthieu Pavon, (16) Jorge Campillo and (17) Ryo Hisatune.
Lucas Herbert was the only other Australian to make the DP World Tour Championship, for which only the top 50 from the Race to Dubai rankings are eligible. Herbert also carded a 69 on Sunday in Dubai to finish tied for 38th at four-under par. He now joins Meronk and MacIntyre in heading to Australia for the summer events.
Lee finished 10th on the season-long Race to Dubai, won by Rory McIlroy, while Herbert finished 41st.
It’s likely Lee, the world No.43, will make his member debut on the PGA Tour at the Sony Open in Hawaii in early January, given the US circuit just wrapped up its 2023 official tournaments with the RSM Classic in Sea Island, Georgia.
The RSM Classic was the last of seven tournaments called the “FedEx Cup Fall” which allowed PGA Tour pros to carry over points from last season to try and keep their cards for 2024. The RSM event featured four Australians (Greg Chalmers, Harrison Endycott, Cameron Percy and Aaron Baddeley). Chalmers and Endycott missed the cut and therefore were unable to keep their cards, although Endycott hung onto conditional status. Percy, aged 49, was also unable to finish high enough to keep his PGA Tour status and took to Twitter to concede it might have been his last round on the PGA Tour.
Baddeley finished 109th on the FedEx Fall but had already secured his 2024 status via the top 125 finishers.
Interestingly, Adam Scott finished 80th on the FedEx Cup Fall, having played just two Fall events. Despite being the world No.44, he is not yet eligible for the first three big-money Signature events on the PGA Tour in 2024. He’d already missed out on making The Sentry event on Maui in January because he did not make the top 50’s BMW Championship during the FedEx Cup playoffs, and he is not currently eligible for the two Signature tournaments after that: the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational, which he has won twice.
If Scott doesn’t play his way into those two events from a points list compiled during tournaments in between Maui and the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, he will have to rely on getting one of four sponsors invitations at each.
FINAL AUSTRALIAN FINISHES ON PGA TOUR FEDEX CUP FALL
80th – Adam Scott
109th – Aaron Baddeley
140th – Harrison Endycott (secured conditional status via 126-150 FedEx Cup finishers)
143rd – Lucas Herbert (exempt through 2024 as PGA Tour winner)
161st – Cameron Percy (did not keep card)
