Rory, Rahm, pro golf’s future: 8 takeaways from a wild week abroad

My sleep is still out of whack, going on day 4 of a jetlag battle following a recent 10-day reporting trip for GOLF Magazine. I was in Dubai for the DP World Tour Championship before racing to Manchester and Lancashire in western England — you can piece together clues to guess what story we’ve been chasing. But as hazy as my surroundings feel at the moment, a few moments and memories remain vivid. A transoceanic chase has filled my mind with a whirlwind of languages and climates and cultures, and several pinch-me chances to take note of where I am and, importantly, who is in front of me.

There were pro golfers playing for their jobs, like Laurie Canter, the Boy Who LIV’d (and may again). There were other golfers showing how much it meant, like Rory McIlroy crying about his father. There were daily shuttle rides with caddies spent solving the problems of the sport — in a welcome twist, the loopers shared a hotel with golf media. And while it was the final tournament of the season on the DP World Tour, the next season starts so soon it was easy to start looking forward. 

Here are eight pro golf takeaways from our last international trip of 2025.

1. Jon Rahm’s absence is felt. 

It was cute to have Marco Penge fans believing their man could take down Rory McIlroy. Penge had a puncher’s chance entering the final week of the season, but that evaporated when he shot 74 alongside McIlroy in the first round. Rory beat him by eight, effectively ending the Race to Dubai upon arrival. And while McIlroy’s seventh season-long title was well earned, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was easier for him than perhaps it should have been. 

This is not to say that McIlroy was anything but brilliant in 2025. But as I walked around the DPWT Championship, taking note of the banners with players faces lining the driveway — placed in order of their Race to Dubai ranking — I was left wondering. Where is Jon Rahm? 

It’s not McIlroy’s fault that Rahm — or, semi-related, Viktor Hovland — was absent, but it feels relevant that McIlroy’s best competition for Best International Golfer simply didn’t make the DPWT playoffs. Rahm was excellent in 2025, too, but 14 of his 21 tournament starts came at LIV Golf. Another four were majors, where he made all four cuts and contended in two. That left just three true, non-major DPWT events for Rahm in 2025 — his home Open in Spain, the essentially mandatory Ryder Cup prep at Wentworth and the Dubai Desert Classic in January, where he missed the cut. 

So yes, a weird year for Rahm, who declared his desire for a lengthier offseason and then acted on it. But his absence was felt in Dubai and left me thinking how he and McIlroy are on such different roads. McIlroy has won four straight season-long titles. McIlroy now has an award named after him — at just 36 years old — given out by the DPWT. McIlroy is the one crying in press conferences about the importance of Seve Ballesteros — Rahm’s hero. And if 2026 plays out in any similar way as the last few years, Rahm is unlikely to stand in his way from chasing another Race to Dubai of that. I’m left wondering what he thinks about that, particularly as the LIV-DPWT relationship remains complex.

2. Rory’s C-game is still top-tier.

What impressed me as I left Dubai was not another 72nd-hole eagle from Rory McIlroy, who earned his way into a playoff via big bird. I was more struck by how average McIlroy’s golf felt like that week and what he did with it anyway. 

Fans in the States likely weren’t able to track it well because of the nine-hour time difference from the East Coast, but McIlroy did not have his best stuff in Dubai and you could see it in his reactions. He was mashing driver everywhere, of course, but flipping wedges off greens, starting putts offline, scrambling from the edges of the property and showing frustration throughout.

And he damn near won the tournament.

I didn’t get the chance to ask him to grade his week, but it was probably his C-game. Maybe C-plus, if you’re a generous professor. And while the Earth Course at Jumeirah feels lab-crafted to suit his style of play, it struck me how easy it came to him, in month no. 11 of an extremely full year of golf. His floor has been raised so high that he sort of just has to exist out there for four days and his name will rise up the leaderboard. Maybe that’s no revelation, but it felt like a pretty un-special week and he was one putt away from lifting the trophy. That’s special in its own way. He’ll now head Down Under for the Australian Open, and while Royal Melbourne should be finicky enough to really test him, anything worse than top 20 would be stunning.

3. Rory’s tears told a story.

One of the best parts of covering the DP World Tour is that it’s distinctly more intimate than the PGA Tour. There are fewer fans on site — with the exception of a few events, like the Irish Open in September — and therefore the infrastructure buildout is smaller, too. Less tension hangs in the air. And while winning is no less meaningful, players seem more at ease during in-between times, which allows reporters to mingle more freely with a group that isn’t currently worried about, say, the PGA Tour’s Future Competitions Committee.

All of which brings us back to McIlroy who, for the second straight year, gave a tearful interview off the back of the 18th green, invoking the importance of Seve Ballesteros. About an hour later, McIlroy was seated in front of just a handful of media, which cleared the space for me to ask:

Rory, in all my observing of you, no golfer seems to get you quite as emotional as Seve does. Why do you think that is? 

You may have seen the clip by now. If not, check it out below. It sits at the intersection of honesty and vulnerability, which we don’t often get in such a croaky-throated way from pro athletes. But while McIlroy seems to be telling us something about the importance of Seve, I think it’s more important what he’s saying about Gerry McIlroy. 

When it comes to introducing children to sports, plenty of it is done via the television screen. Or these days, via the smart phone. But you can easily imagine a very young Rory watching Ballesteros alongside his dad and learning about his brilliance right around the time when fanhood begins. Right at the moment when Rory gets obsessed with the game. 

We know that Rory always had the legend of Tiger Woods and his records or his Nike clothes or his swing to obsess over, but a special derivative of that young golf obsession is indexing the records and style of your dad’s favorite player. The meaning of the name Seve was hardened into stone for McIlroy, and it is just now becoming so obvious to us (and maybe more clear to Rory, too) what Seve meant to his journey.

It seems a truism of life in sports that fathers pass down their love of a game or a team or individuals to their children at a time when our brains will never let us forget them. For me, growing up in Northeastern Wisconsin, that was Brett Favre and no one else was close. What’s different for McIlroy is he gets to live out his dreams while still invoking the person and memories that helped launch those dreams, all alongside a very nimble and mobile father, who must really enjoy watching. 

4. 10 dual-membership cards feels like a lot now.

The last two weeks — both in Dubai and in Georgia, at the RSM Classic — decided so much. Ten players in Dubai earned full status on the PGA Tour for 2026. Similarly, about five pros held on tight to full status on the PGA Tour, while a couple dozen were left on the outside looking in at what could have been. It’s a fascinating time of year for the sickos who understand these depths of pro golf, but while we revel in the emotions of those who got in and those who missed out, it’s worth wondering if we have the algebra correct. 

For the first time, the PGA Tour has been trimmed to roughly 135 full-status members — down from about 160 two years ago — wherein full status really means full autonomy of your schedule. These pros can get into any non-Signature Event they want. Part of why this trimming was necessary is because in 2023, when the DPWT brought 10 of its best players to the PGA Tour, some of them struggled to simply get tee times. They were too far down the pecking order, which meant getting into, say, the WM Phoenix Open was virtually impossible. The same was true for graduates from the Korn Ferry Tour. So the PGA Tour went from Top 125 in the FedEx Cup to Top 100 at the end of FedEx Fall, a controversial move that essentially added 20% more uncertainty for many pros. 

But … is 10 the right number coming from the DPWT? 

I think the number should be closer to eight, and maybe seven if we’re really cutting. That’s supported by the reality that only two pros from last year’s crop of 10 retained full status in 2025: Rasmus Hojgaard and Thorbjorn Olesen. Tom McKibbin, the 10th to get through last year, gave up his status by committing to LIV. So that’s two for nine, with Olesen holding on for dear life in the 96 spot. 

This year’s crop of 10 holds plenty of promise, but reports state that one of them, Laurie Canter, has already committed to LIV. (If he signs with LIV before the end of 2025, Dan Brown would take his spot.) Will we see more DPWT players stand out in 2025? Or will two-for-nine feel like the expected batting average? If so, the number of cards may feel slightly out of proportion.

5. ‘Graduation’ is a terrific term. 

I hesitated multiple times during our DPWT Championship coverage to use the term “graduate” for those 10 guys who earned PGA Tour cards. The proper term is just earning dual membership between both tours in the fateful Strategic Alliance. But in reality, since all 10 — errr, nine, plus maybe a different 10th — will undoubtedly try and play a full season on the PGA Tour, where there is more money to be made, more world ranking points on offer, and greater access to the majors, graduation feels appropriate. 

It also feels appropriate when you consider the PGA Tour sent over four staffers to oversee this rewarding of status, which made for a fun watch over that weekend. It wasn’t more than 30 minutes after Rasmus Neergaard Peterson earned his dual-membership status that he was surrounded by those PGA Tour staffers and being introduced to what his next 12 months would be like. It very much felt like, Hey, congrats on earning dual membership. You can come with us now, we’ll explain what Tour life is like across the pond. You may want to look into Florida real estate.

For the record, that seems like a helpful move! And it was reiterated a day later when those same PGA Tour staffers hosted those new dual-membership players for an official PGA Tour orientation. They’ll get a month and a half off before Hawaii and the Sony Open beckons, 14 time zones away from Dubai.

6. Laurie Canter was saved by a missed putt.

It was fascinating watching Laurie Canter, Ludvig Aberg and Tommy Fleetwood, all tied for the clubhouse lead, all hitting balls on the Jumeirah Golf Estates driving range, all pause their routine in unison and pivot their gaze to the massive TV board nearby. Matt Fitzpatrick made a putt to pip them all, and it was suddenly time to go home.

What preceded that was Canter missing a very makable birdie putt on the 18th that would have tied him for Fitzpatrick, but also quietly would have pushed him into a bit of a dilemma. Because Canter thought he may end up in a playoff, there was zero media obligation while he waited for his fate to be sealed, which meant there was no opportunity to ask him what it was like becoming the first one-time LIV golfer to earn full status on the PGA Tour. Canter was about to become the answer to a very nerdy golf trivia question, and it would have been great to hear his thoughts on the matter.

Only once Fitzpatrick made the putt, and was matched by McIlroy, Canter was free to go home unbothered. Why is that interesting? Because he reportedly commited to LIV golf just a few days later. Josh Carpenter reported Canter is set to join LIV Golf again, which will bar him from the PGA Tour once again, something I wish I knew before I made this silly little video calling him The Boy Who LIV’d.

7. What is pro golf without the Middle East? 

It was during a nice chat with Tommy Fleetwood’s wife, Clare, that I was reminded the extent to which professional golf runs through the Middle East. Perhaps I shouldn’t have needed the reminder, but it hit especially hard when Clare mentioned how Tommy must be the only pro golfer who gets to play four consecutive tournaments in the area he calls home. Tommy plays the final two DPWT playoff events in Dubai, the latter of which on Jumeirah, where he lives. Then he’ll play his next two events — in January — just up the road at Dubai Creek, one week before the Dubai Desert Classic, next door at Emirates Golf Club.

So many pro golf roads flow through the Middle East, and so much pro golf money continues to as well. The week after our Dubai visit was the Saudi International, an Asian Tour event put on by the Saudi PIF, the financial backers of LIV Golf and major Asian Tour investors. LIV will kick off its season in Saudi, too, just weeks after most of Ryder Cup Europe plays the Dubai Desert Classic. During Ryder Cup years, the plan is to continue hosting the Hero Cup, that team-building event that works as an breeding ground for Europe’s Ryder Cup team.

As golf progresses in the Middle East, its backdrop — Dubai and its epic skyline, likewise for Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, etc. — continues to shift, too, given the immense wealth in the area. The first private club in the U.A.E. has been launched just southeast of the city, injecting even more western golf culture to that part of the world. It’s impossible to visit and not think about how much this game will be played there in the decades to come. It’s also impossible to visit and not remember that not a single Dubai course existed 40 years ago.

8. Royal Birkdale is (almost) ready

We were able to spend a couple days at Royal Birkdale, next year’s Open venue, on our way back from the Middle East, and learn all about why it won’t be the same course we saw in 2017. You’ll recognize most of its bones, but that finishing stretch of holes where Jordan Spieth made history? They’re very different. As in the par-3 14th where Spieth said he hit the best shot of his life? It doesn’t exist anymore. And the 15th, where Spieth made eagle and told Michael Greller to kindly Go get that! It has been shortened into a par 4 with a new green. And if anyone wants to clutch pearls about that history, that’s fine. But the slate of changes made to Birkdale all came with a very sound purpose. We’ll detail them in the months to come, but I’m a fan.

To newcomers, Birkdale is one of the best — if not the best — courses in England. It’s the crown jewel of the Liverpool area, and looks resplendent nine months ahead of the Open, particularly during golden hour, which comes at a startling 3 p.m. local time. Aesthetically, Birkdale will remind people of Royal Portrush with the size and shape of some of its dunes, but overall it plays along a flatter property. It’s close enough to the coast to be windy as hell and, frankly, tough as hell, too.

To step into its clubhouse is, like many of the best clubs in the U.K., to step into a museum. But there’s an interesting trend with Birkdale that you don’t always have everywhere else: virtually every iconic modern golfer has done something of note at RBGC. 

Arnie won there. So did Trevino. Seve splashed onto the scene as a teenager at Birkdale. So did Justin Rose. Like Oakmont, Birkdale paid witness to the peak of Johnny Miller’s powers in 1976. Jack Nicklaus starred there, but not in a winning way. In a tying way — that’s where The Concession took place. There’s a bunch of Ryder Cup lore at Birkdale, and you see it on the walls and behind glass cases in the clubhouse. It’s the only course to host the Open and the Ryder Cup in the same year — a fate I’d love to see repeated sometime, though we never will. Tiger Woods shot a then-Open-record 65 there, just in case you forgot about him. And then there’s Padraig Harrington’s 5-wood, 5-wood birdie on the 17th to help win in 2008. It made me wonder which iconic pro will make magic there next summer. If it looks this good in chilly November, can you imagine how it’s going to look in July?

I can’t wait. 

The author welcomes your comments and thoughts to sean.zak@golf.com. He also welcomes you to appreciate his drone work below.