Jordan Smith should take a look at this quote from himself, if earning one of 10 PGA Tour cards Sunday from the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai rankings wasn’t sweet enough.

Because a year ago, he was the victim of a cruel gap in the system.

As part of the Strategic Alliance between the DP World Tour and PGA Tour, the top 10 players on the final Race to Dubai Rankings, not otherwise exempt, earn PGA Tour memberships for the following year. The rankings are finalised after the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

Last year, Smith, an Englishman who hails from the city of Bath, was 11th on the final DP World Tour standings. One spot above him was Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin, who was then strongly rumoured to be joining LIV Golf.

By the time McKibbin decided on, and confirmed, his big switch, it was too late for Smith to join the PGA Tour’s 2025 DP World Tour graduates. Smith held no ill feelings and acknowledged he hadn’t finished inside the top 10. Still, the administrative shortfall was frustrating.

“It’s just one of those things you have to take on the chin and use it as fuel to get one of those cards the next time,” Smith told the Daily Mail U.K. at the U.S. Open in June. “At the time he [McKibbin] might have not known that he was definitely going to be on LIV. But for me it was a hard blow to miss out. Getting on the PGA Tour is a big goal of mine.”

Goal achieved; Smith was the feel-good story of the 10 golfers who earned PGA Tour membership for 2026 this week, after the DP World Tour finale at Jumeirah Golf Estates concluded Sunday.

Topping the standings was the DP World Tour’s breakout star of the year, England’s Marco Penge. The big hitter won three times on the DP World Tour and finished second at the Scottish Open. Penge, 27, said he would still dedicate ample time next fall to his home tour, even with a PGA Tour card in hand.

“I will miss it here. I’ll miss the players, the staff, just the Tour in general,” Penge, who finished second to Rory McIlroy on the overall Race to Dubai standings, said. He finished the DP World Tour finale T-22 at nine under, nine shots out of a playoff that Matt Fitzpatrick won over McIlroy. “This is where I’ve started and a place I’m not going to forget. Hopefully I’ll be playing as much as I can back on the DP World Tour when that season is finished. It won’t be the last time you see me.”

Because Penge finished first on that list, he automatically qualified for the Players Championship and two early Signature Events, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational.

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to playing the big events over on that side of the pond,” Penge said. “Obviously looking forward to playing in all majors next year and play against the best players in the world like we are this week. The standard is different when you’re playing against the best guys.”

Laurie Canter locked up the second PGA Tour card. The Englishman played on LIV Golf in 2022 and 2023 before returning to the DP World Tour in 2024 where he won twice. This year, Canter played in the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass via the top 50 on the Official World Golf Rankings.

After Canter, Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan, Frenchman Adrien Saddier, Ryder Cup European vice-captain Alex Noren, England’s John Parry, China’s Li Haotong, Japan’s Keita Nakajima, Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Smith received PGA Tour cards.

Their circumstances were poetic in the end; Neergaard-Petersen made an eagle and three birdies in his final five holes to leap into ninth on the Race to Dubai finishers not already exempt on the PGA Tour.

It left Smith with the 10th and final PGA Tour card.

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