Scotland’s Cameron Adam, 22, finished atop the Global Amateur Pathway Ranking, thus earning a DP World Tour exemption for the 2026 season.
The next three players in the final GAP ranking – England’s Dominic Clemons and Charlie Forster and Denmark’s Kristian Hjort Bressum – all earned HotelPlanner Tour cards for the 2026 season.
Adam secured the top position by holding onto his No. 20 position in the World Amateur Golf Ranking with an individual finish of 58th at the World Amateur Team Championships in Singapore. The 2023 Scottish Men’s Amateur champion and former Northwestern golfer competed for Great Britain and Ireland in the Walker Cup and qualified for the Open Championship at Royal Portrush after winning the 2025 Open Amateur Series.
The left-hander from Edinburgh also contended into Sunday in his DP World Tour debut in August’s Betfred British Masters at The Belfry, eventually finishing T19.
“Over the moon is probably a good way to put how I feel about the year,” said Adam. “About 13 months ago I was struggling a bit with golf, and it’s all turned around. It’s all kind of nuts and definitely something that I’m sitting back and taking in.
“I’m buzzing for the season ahead. I got a wee taste at The Belfry, which was so important, and I’m extremely grateful for that. Getting a taste of what it’s like, the opportunities I’m going to have over the next year to go and play the dream. That week was almost about proving to myself that I can compete on that stage and go and tee it up with players that I’ll be going up against in the next year. There’s no doubt that gives me a lot of confidence for the year that’s coming.” READ MORE
Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy celebrate after Saturday morning foursomes.
Vaughn Ridle, Sportsfile via Getty Images
Jon Rahm said after finishing tied ninth in the Open de España that he will not play another event until February when the 2026 LIV Golf season starts in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He will skip the DP World Tour’s season-ending events despite moving up the 56th in the Race to Dubai rankings and within the current projected cut line for the DP World Tour playoffs.
“I’ve never had three months off, but I’m looking forward to it,” Rahm told Spanish reporters after the Open de España.
The offseason shutdown means Rahm will finish 2025 without an individual victory for the first time since 2016, the year he graduated from Arizona State and turned professional during the summer. Rahm’s 2025 campaign included 15 top-10 finishes, including in three major championships. He was a big part of the victorious European Ryder Cup team at Bethpage last month and his Legion XIII squad won the LIV Golf team championship while Rahm claimed his second consecutive season-long LIV individual crown.
“On this new path, I’ve won the team league, also individually, and the Ryder Cup,” he said. “I don’t feel like I haven’t won anything this year.” READ MORE
With a par on the first playoff hole, Naoyuki Kataoka of Japan beat Satoshi Hara to win the Japan Open at Nikko Country Club to earn his first invitations to the Masters and Open Championship in 2026.
Kataoka joins Open de España winner Marco Penge and July’s Genesis Scottish Open winner Chris Gotterup as first-time Masters qualifiers via the new national opens pathway into Augusta. Gotterup’s Scottish Open victory already qualified him as winner of a full-points PGA Tour event before Augusta National included it in the national open qualifying series announced jointly with the R&A in August.
The remaining win-and-get-in events toward the Masters are the Asian Tour’s Hong Kong Open (Oct. 30-Nov. 2), the Australian Open (Dec. 4-7) and the South African Open (Feb. 26-March 1).
The 154th Open at Royal Birkdale invites Kataoka as the leading player not already exempt who made the cut in the Japan Open, the second stop in the Open Qualifying Series. The 27-year-old Kataoka, ranked No. 500 in the Official World Golf Ranking, has never made a start in a major championship.
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The PGA Tour and Bermuda Tourism Authority announced a multi-year extension to title sponsor the annual fall Butterfield Bermuda Championship, which debuted in 2019 as the PGA Tour’s first official event on the island. READ MORE
Nelly Korda, who cited injury for her withdrawal from the field in next week’s Hanwha LifePlus International Crown in South Korea, has committed to compete Nov. 13-16 in the Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida, where she can become the first four-time winner of an LPGA event since tournament namesake Annika Sörenstam in 2005 at the ADT Championship. WNBA star Caitlin Clark is scheduled to return to participate in the Wednesday Pro-Am on Nov. 12. READ MORE
The PGA Tour’s World Wide Technology Championship at Diamante Resort’s El Cardonal course on Nov. 6-9 features commitments from reigning U.S. Open champion and world No. 6 J.J. Spaun, fellow Ryder Cup teammate Ben Griffin, European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, six-time tour winner Tony Finau and past WWT champions Austin Eckroat, Erik van Rooyen, Matt Kuchar and Patton Kizzire. READ MORE
Compiled by Scott Michaux