The Empty Tour: How The OWGR Formula has Killed The DP World Tour's Route to Majors
In the 1980s, you could be a European Tour star and still think a major was “your” stage. By 2026, will the majors remain accessible to anyone...
James - Par and Paddock
In the decades of the 1980s and 1990’s, there were the “Six Big Guys” - Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam, Sandy Lyle and José María Olazábal - they didn’t simply participate in Major Championships; they ruled them. From 1980 to 1999, players from the European Tour took home 16 Major Championships. In 1980 when they went to Augusta and the U.S. Open they went as equals, representing a tour which was equally prestigious and powerful to the PGA Tour.
Fast forward to 2026 and the landscape has changed dramatically. The “Strategic Alliance” between the DP World Tour (DPWT) and the PGA Tour has all but made the European Tour a AAA feeder tour. However, it is not the prize money in America alone that has caused the decline; it is the systemic, mathematical erosion of European participation in Majors caused by the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).
How Much Did It Shrink? The Numbers
To see how far down the slope the European Tour has slid, we need to examine the “Pure European” numbers - players who could qualify for US-based Majors (the Masters, U.S. Open and PGA Championship), primarily because of their success on the European Tour.
The Representation Gap: A Decade-by-Decade Breakdown
1980–1989
Average Euro-Based Players in US Majors: 12
The Status Quo: Representation was modest but elite. Invitations were often committee-based or regional.
1990–1999
Average Euro-Based Players in US Majors: 22
The Status Quo: The Peak. The OWGR (est. 1986) was a fair scale. Winning at Wentworth or in Dubai was worth nearly as much as winning in Florida.
2000–2009
Average Euro-Based Players in US Majors: 28
The Status Quo: The era of the “Golden Generation” (Westwood, Harrington, Garcia, Clarke). Europe was a legitimate rival.
2010–2019
Average Euro-Based Players in US Majors: 18
The "Migration" begins. Stars like Rory McIlroy move to the US, though they remain DPWT ambassadors.
2020–2026
Average Euro-Based Players in US Majors: 9
The Collapse: Structural changes to OWGR math make it nearly impossible to stay in the Top 50 from Europe.
What led to this tipping point?
There have been several changes made to the OWGR since August of 2022. Most notably, the OWGR reduced the minimum points awarded to any player who wins a DP World Tour event. The new method for calculating the OWGR ranking uses the Field Rating, which is the average of each player’s Strokes Gained World Rating for players participating in the tournament.
Since the PGA Tour (and, as of Feb. 2026, recognised LIV Golf events) holds the vast majority of the world’s top 50 golfers, tournaments held by the PGA Tour have many more opportunities for players to collect large amounts of OWGR points than the DP World Tour. Conversely, a player who participates in a DP World Tour event in Africa, such as South Africa or Kenya, or Asia, such as Japan or Korea, may earn no more than 12-15 points for winning the tournament. In fact, a player who finishes 15th in a PGA Tour “Signature Event” earns more points than does the winner of a European Tour event.
Therefore, this creates a “points drain.” Players who compete mostly in Europe are running up an escalator whose steps are moving downward. This means that a player may win a tournament and earn the same or possibly slightly higher ranking on the OWGR; however, they will still fall short of reaching the Top 50/60 threshold necessary to gain entry into the Masters or U.S. Open.
The Institutionalised Exodus: The Ten Cards
While the OWGR had developed the mathematical equation for the decline, the “Strategic Alliance” provided the infrastructure to support it. Currently, the top 10 players on the DP World Tour Rankings (not already exempt) receive PGA Tour cards for the next season.
At first glance, this seems like a reward for players; however, the export of these players from the DP World Tour to the PGA Tour represents a lobotomy for the DP World Tour as an ecosystem. Each year, the ten players who are most likely to earn enough OWGR points to represent Europe in the Majors are sent to the PGA Tour to play for the United States. When these players compete in the PGA Championship, they are playing as PGA Tour members. The DP World Tour is then left to deal with a lower “Field Rating,” less points to award to the remaining members of the tour, and a decreased likelihood of having their “home grown” talent compete in the Majors.
The 2026 Reality: A Closed Loop
When we review the field for the 2026 Masters, the trend is very evident. With the exception of past champions like Olazabal or Danny Willett, the number of players qualifying solely based on the DP World Tour rankings has reached an all-time low. Today, the path to the Majors runs through Florida, and not Surrey.
The “Official World Golf Ranking” was intended to serve as a global reflection of the golfing world. However, instead, it serves as a magnifying glass to one region of the world and a blind spot for another. To fans of European golf, the message is clear: the stars you see on the European Tour are simply stopping by en route to somewhere else. The “World” has been removed from the Official World Golf Ranking, and the European Tour is paying the price.
What will happen next?
Breaking the cycle:
DP World Tour can cease its descent into “a feeder tour” status if the following structural changes are made:
Withdrawal from one-sided alliance
Critics believe the DP World Tour should end the “Strategic Alliance” it now shares with the PGA Tour, while the alliance does provide financial protection for the DP World Tour, it also guarantees the top 10 players each year to the U.S. circuit, and thus continues to deplete the talent pool of the DP World Tour, and therefore reduces the quality of their fields and OWGR ratings.
Global golf merger
There has been, for a while now, an increasing push to create a unified global golf tour combining the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, and LIV Golf. This combined tour could provide a format which requires top players to participate in a minimum number of international events, thereby creating more international competition and thus enhancing the “Field Rating” of European tournaments.
However, this idea has really stalled, and with the PGA Tour restructuring and schedule changes coming in 2027 and beyond, the DP World Tour is being treated like the runt of the litter and left well behind.
Revitalise and promote further the fall series
The DP World Tour was successful in the fall (September-November), when it dominated the schedule during the PGA Tour’s “off-season” or “fall series”. European events such as the BMW PGA Championship and the Dunhill Links Championship were able to draw a strong international field, and saw large increases in viewership numbers.
Realign the OWGR formula
The current OWGR system relies heavily on “Strokes Gained” field depth to determine the strength of a tour’s field, making it difficult for international tours to be competitive with the PGA Tour’s concentration of talent. Reverting to a system that places weight on the “National Open” or history of a tournament could potentially restore enough points to allow European players to remain in the discussion for Majors. This is a real long shot, given the stance and recent changes to the OWGR.
Partnership with LIV Golf
Some analysts believe that the DP World Tour should have formed a partnership with the PIF (backers of LIV) from the beginning. A future alliance between LIV, the DP World Tour, and the Asian Tour could create a formidable “Global Tour” that would offer larger purses and more ranking points than the DPWT can deliver on its own.
Final thoughts
The DP World Tour is currently experiencing a “fascinating limbo” status. On one hand, it is still the home of many of the most historic National Opens in Europe; however, its ability to remain a premier destination depends on whether it will continue to serve as a “finishing school” for the PGA Tour, or if it will once again assert itself as a global force.