PGA Tour & LIV implications as Ryder Cup selection changes

The US PGA Tour will count directly towards Team Europe’s berth in next year’s Ryder Cup in America.

Its own qualifying list, compiled based on results from DP World Tour events in Europe and the PGA Tour, will determine the six automatic selections for Luke Donald’s 12-man team. As expected, LIV Tour events, which feature Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, both part of Donald’s winning team last year, will not count towards qualifying.

European players must be members of the DP World Tour to qualify for the Ryder Cup, and LIV players must pay fines and serve suspensions to remain on tour. Donald still has six options to defend against Keegan Bradley’s American team at Bethpage Black next September.

Previously, the automatic selection was determined by two separate lists. Three players are on the list through their performances on the DP World Tour alone, and a further three thanks to world ranking points accumulated during the qualifying period.

European Tour chief executive Guy Kinnings described the changes as a “significant milestone”. “It’s definitely a much cleaner and simpler qualification system than what’s been used previously,” he said.

The qualifying period starts with the British Masters, which begins at the Bell Tower on August 29. Points will only be available on the DP World Tour in 2024, which should encourage the continent’s biggest stars to play on this side of the Atlantic.

PGA Tour events will count towards European Qualification from the new year, with the high-profile “marquee” events, the Players Championship and the FedEx Cup Playoffs, each offering 3,000 qualifying points. The four majors carry even more weight – the Masters, PGA Tour, U.S. Open and British Open are each worth 5,000 points and likely represent Rahm and Hatton’s best chance to automatically make the team.

Elite Rolex Series DP World Tour events are worth 2,000 points, the same as standard PGA Tour events.