The DP World Tour, R&A and PGA Tour announced a new joint venture overnight that will create another professional avenue for the best male amateur players.
The initiative, called the “Global Amateur Pathway”, will reward the top non-collegiate competitors with status on the DP World Tour and partner tours around the world. The highest-ranked player (that doesn’t play NCAA Division I in America) in the World Amateur Golf Ranking will receive a tour card for the former European Tour the next season, while further exemptions will be rewarded to the European Challenge Tour. The ranking is designed to identify and rank elite male amateur players (excluding NCAA Division-I collegiate players) competing in eligible tournaments based on their average performance in those tournaments.
Aside from the non-NCAA competitor stipulation, other criteria include being at least 20 years old and ranked inside the top 200 of the WAGR.
The Global Amateur Pathway will work in conjunction with the PGA Tour University ranking, which bestows membership on PGA Tour-sanctioned circuits to the top Division-I college golfers at the end of the NCAA Championship. It was the PGA Tour U platform that allowed European star Ludvig Aberg the chance to compete on the PGA Tour immediately after the completion of his collegiate career. These directives are seen as a response to LIV Golf, which has granted guaranteed millions to promising amateurs to sign with the fledgling Saudi league.
“This initiative is the perfect example of the benefits that come from the Strategic Alliances and partnerships that we have forged across the game of golf,” said DP World Tour chief executive Guy Kinnings. “The very best amateur players now have similar opportunities to their professional counterparts, with clear pathways across the globe to ultimately compete at the pinnacle of the game.”
According to the DP World Tour, several current professionals that would have benefited from the Global Amateur Pathway include Hideki Matsuyama, Tommy Fleetwood and Australia’s Min Woo Lee [above].
The qualification period for the inaugural ranking ends this October.
