The Tour Championship 2025/26
We’ve arrived at the final stop for season 2025/26 and Travis Smyth has cemented the #1 position on the Order of Merit and a DP World Tour exemption, but there’s still plenty going on at The National this week.
The Tour has moved away from this being a standard event and only allowed entry to the top 100 players from the Order of Merit. This has actually fallen to 104th after adjustments and Temporary Tournament Members. The entry list based on the Order of Merit has moved this event towards a “Tour Championship” similar to what we see on most other tours. I really like this move. The field still feels a little large for a pure Tour Championship but we are moving in the right direction.
I would love to see the penultimate event (The Heritage in this case) also as an Order of Merit based entry. Other tours have multiple “Finals” events; the DP World Tour has the Top 70 and Top 50 to conclude the Race to Dubai, and the PGA Tour has the Top 70, Top 50, and Top 30 culminating in the Fedex Cup. These cut-offs give us an extra layer of storylines to follow as the season draws to a close. The Heritage could be the Top 100 event (instead of this week) and The National could drop to Top 70 so there’s a fight for full status from those that have guaranteed some status for the following season.
Usually these types of events on other tours have elevated points which creates volatility and drama and hopefully we can move towards that in the future. Currently the Tour has set OOM points based on each event’s total purse but I don’t see why that couldn’t change for a finals series. It would be great if we could get to the final event and still have the #1 position up for grabs. Anyway, onto what they are playing for this week…
#1 DPWT Card
Full(ish) status on the DP World Tour.
Travis Smyth confirmed.
#2 & #3 Challenge Tour (Hotel Planner) Cards
A change to multiple tours that received multiple DPWT cards had a change for this year. No longer will two additional cards be awarded a DPWT category and instead they will just receive full Challenge Tour status. Cam John, James Marchesani, Haydn Barron, Will Florimo, Chris Wood, and Jay Mackenzie are mathematically possible for the two cards for season 2027. Haydn Barron does have some status on the Challenge Tour for this year so should he retain Challenge Tour status for 2027, and score one of these cards, it will fall to the next player (yes it gets complicated).
3x DPWT Q-School Final Stage Exemptions
The leading three entrants (to a limit of 20th place) gain entry into the Final Stage of DPWT Q-School which takes place towards the end of the year. This has slid to #7 and #8 the past two seasons but that won’t happen this time with the change in cards. Previously the #2 and #3 DPWT cards were bunched in the same category as DPWT Q-School graduates, so going to Final Stage could only slightly improve their numbers. Now with no category on the DPWT it’s virtually certain these players will attend Final Stage. A number of players are vying for two of these positions - James Marchesani, Haydn Barron, Will Florimo, Chris Wood, Jay Mackenzie, Nathan Barbieri and Jack Thompson are possible.
Cam John confirmed (should he enter).
Full PGA Tour of Australasia Status Next Season
The top 50 players on the final OOM will have a “full” card for next season. This will fall to 51st position as MJ Maguire (30th) is a temporary member and will not count towards the top 50.
There was conjecture this season about this not truly being a full card as a number of these players missed out on playing the Australian Open. That is set to change for next season. A number of categories have been shuffled which will allow more (if not all) players from the 31st-50th category to gain entry.
I won’t dive too deep in analysing ins and outs from tournament winning categories and will just use the same entry list from the 2025 Australian Open to give you an idea on next season’s category changes. There were six players from the 31-50 category that did not make the field. Next season, Career Money exemptions and the two Q-School winners are going to move below the 31-50 category (Q-School winners way down), which would free up exactly six spots that would be given to the 31-50s.
We had two players from the 31-50 category successfully Monday qualify and another qualify via the Mini Order of Merit, so these extra spots doesn’t absolutely guarantee entry into the Australian Open but it should go close.
Conditional PGA Tour of Australia Status Next Season
The next meaningful number on the Order of Merit is 70th. Players in the 51-70 category will have conditional status next season and be able to avoid the final stage of Q-School that is scheduled for next week. This will fall to 72nd position thanks to two temporary members in MJ Maguire (30th) and Adam Coull (56th). In the past we have seen guys from this category still enter Q-School to improve their number but with the category changes, it’s unlikely the winner from Q-School even gets into the Australian Open and will also probably miss out on the Australian PGA. The only real benefit to winning Q-School is avoiding the re-rank halfway through the season (although also gaining entry into the New Zealand Open and Japan-Australasia Championship).
Those that finish the season outside of 72nd and haven’t won on tour in the past 10 years, will be forced into Final Stage of Q-School next week.
Higher Stakes
Stakes feel slightly higher for two players in the field that are around the Top 50 bubble. Ben Eccles (43th) and Matt Griffin (52rd) both have their tournament winners category expiring this week which has afforded them entry in all the big events since their wins in the 2023/24 season. Eccles was 84th on the OOM after being forced to retire at the New Zealand Open and has rocketed up into the top 50 with two strong results, T15 at Royal Auckland and T3 last week at Heritage. He should be safe as he would need to fall eight positions to miss out on a full card (the biggest fall from The National last season was five positions), although we aren’t yet sure if those final places will make the Australian Open field, so making the cut could still be important.
Matt Griffin sits in 52nd, 0.68 points outside the top 50 (51) cut off. It’s difficult to know what he needs to guarantee the full exemption as it’s dependant on other players’ results, but my estimation is 31 points should enough which is a solo 8th, a 3-way tie for 7th, or a 5-way tie for 6th. Griffin can make it with less points but will need at least a top 20 and then rely on other players behind him not having a high finish.
Form At The Right Time
Kerry Mountcastle is another that has his winners’ category expiring this week. Entering the New Zealand swing, Kerry sat all the way down in 103rd and at serious risk of missing all the major events next season. Finishing T5 at the NZ PGA, earning 37.40 points and moving up to 66th, he then followed that up with a T3 in Queenstown at the NZ Open, earning an enormous 244 points, and jumping all the way up to 18th and guaranteeing a full schedule next season.
No Status
Two players I’ll be watching closely this week are Adam Coull (56th) and Andre Lautee (60th). Both entered this season with no status. Coull hadn’t even turned professional until the NSW Open which was the sixth event of the season. Adam parlayed his great finish in his pro debut into four further starts on tour and has a chance for status if he can replicate his NSW Open performance. Lautee’s final round eight-under in Papua New Guinea helped earn him entry into a further nine other events throughout the season via the leading three within the top 50 category. Jumping back into the top 50 for either will require a high finish but they have both guaranteed partial status for next season after starting with none.
Other Benefits
Entries into stand-alone events are also up for grabs. The Alfred Dunhill Links in Scotland awards 10 spots to Aussie Tour players (usually falls to around 20th position), the Indian Open awards five spots, and the Saudi International awards three spots.
1x PGA Tour Q-School Final Stage Exemption
Leading player on the final Order of Merit (does not slide).
Travis Smyth confirmed.
3x Asian Tour Q-School Final Stage Exemptions
The leading three players not otherwise exempt (to a limit of 15th place).
Further Q-School Exemptions -
7x DPWT Tour Q-School Second Stage Exemptions
Leading 4th-10th placed entrants from the final Order of Merit (to a limit of 30th place).
Up to 4x PGA Tour Q-School Second Stage Exemptions
Applicants ranked 2-5 from the final Order of Merit (does not slide).
3x Japan Tour Q-School Third Stage Exemptions
Leading three players from the final Order of Merit (to a limit of 15th place).
5x Japan Tour Q-School Second Stage Exemptions
Leading five players from the final Order of Merit (to a limit of 30th place).
Point Distributions
1st - 190
2nd - 107
3rd - 71
4th - 51
5th - 42
6th - 38
7th - 34
8th - 31
9th - 28.40
10th - 26.20
11th - 23.20
12th - 21.04
13th - 18.94
14th - 17.88
15th - 16.83
16th - 15.15
17th - 13.58
18th - 12.62
19th - 11.84
20th - 11.36
21st - 10.94
22nd - 10.73
23rd - 10.52
24th - 10.10
25th - 9.47
There’s going to be a lot going on come Sunday. I’ll be here posting any interesting changes as the tournament progresses.
Be back next week to sum up the season!
Cheers.