6 Golfers Who Earned Their PGA Tour Cards for 2026
With its relatively new structure that places greater emphasis on in-season performance, the PGA Tour has become increasingly competitive in recent years. Players who finish outside the top 100 in the FedEx Cup standings lose full-time PGA Tour status, while only the top 50 players earn entry into the following season's signature events. In 2025, several notable golfers, including Joel Dahmen, nine-time winner Brandt Snedeker, and Adam Hadwin, lost their PGA Tour cards.
However, the PGA Tour also awards cards to golfers who finish in the top-10 and top-20 of the DP World Tour's Race to Dubai and the Korn Ferry Tour standings, respectively. Here's a look at six golfers who earned their tour cards for the 2026 season.
Haotong Li
No. 89 in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), Haotong Li earned full member status on the PGA Tour by finishing sixth in the Race to Dubai standings. The Chinese golfer, 30, won the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in February and had two top-five finishes, including at The Open Championship in July. Li was in the final pairing with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler in the last round of The Open at Royal Portrush.
Although 2026 will be his first year as a full-time member on the PGA Tour, Li has played nearly 50 tour events and has had some success at major championships. He tied for third at The Open at Royal Birkdale in 2017 and was the first Chinese player to lead a major at the conclusion of any round after shooting a 65 in the second round of the 2020 PGA Championship. He finished in 17th place.
Li has made the cut in 32 of the 49 PGA Tour events he played and is a four-time winner on the DP World Tour.
Marco Penge
Marco Penge, a 27-year-old English golfer, finished first in the DP World Tour's season-long standings and second overall in the Race to Dubai behind 2025 Masters winner Rory McIlroy. By leading all players in points, he also earned exemptions into two PGA Tour signature events (AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational) and The Players Championship.
This past season, Penge won the Open de España presented by Madrid, Danish Golf Championship, and Hainan Classic. He has seven career starts on the PGA Tour, with his best result being a T2 finish at the 2025 Genesis Scottish Open.
Neal Shipley
A PING All-America Honorable Mention in 2023 and 2024 at Ohio State University, Neal Shipley caught the attention of golf media and fans in 2024 when he earned low amateur honors at the Masters Tournament and U.S. Open. He competed in eight PGA Tour events in 2024 and recorded his best finish, a T6, as a sponsor exemption at the ISCO Championship.
Shipley struggled early during his first season on the Korn Ferry Tour, missing the cut in his first two starts. However, he recorded a top-10 finish in his third event and later won the LECOM Suncoast Classic and Ascendant presented by Blue. Shipley overcame a seven-stroke deficit in the final round to win the Ascendant. He also had top-five results at the Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS and NV5 Invitational.
Johnny Keefer
American Johnny Keefer was the top player on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2025 and had one of the best seasons in recent memory. Heading into the developmental tour's end-of-season championship, Keefer had a 67.79 scoring average, the exact same mark that Tiger Woods achieved during his record-setting year on the PGA Tour in 2000. Keefer finished T12 in the event, shooting above 70 in all four rounds, but had already secured PGA Tour status for 2026.
Keefer won the NV5 Invitational and Veritex Bank Championship and also led all Korn Ferry players in top-five (6) and top-10 (9) finishes. He was the third player to win both the Korn Ferry Tour Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year, joining Scheffler (2019) and Sungjae Im (2018).
As the top player on the Korn Ferry Tour, Keefer also earned exemptions into next season's Players Championship and U.S. Open.
Laurie Canter
Laurie Canter, a 36-year-old English golfer, earned a PGA Tour card but won't be joining the tour, instead choosing to re-sign with LIV Golf and play for Majesticks GC. Canter played twice with LIV in 2024, was a reserve in 2023, and first joined the Saudi-backed league in 2022. Last year on the DP World Tour, he rose to No. 50 in the OWGR and became the first LIV golfer to participate in The Players Championship.
Pontus Nyholm
Pontus Nyholm narrowly earned PGA Tour status for 2026, finishing 20th in the Korn Ferry Tour standings. The 27-year-old Swedish golfer beat Keefer in a playoff to win the Visit Knoxville Open in May, but had to wait until the final moments of the season to see his fate for 2026.
Nyholm finished 54th in the Korn Ferry Tour's season-ending event. He would have been bumped out of 20th in the season-long standings if runner-up Barend Botha won the tournament. Instead, Chandler Blanchet, whom Nyholm later called his "favorite golfer," held on for a two-stroke victory.
Blanchet, meanwhile, finished second behind Keefer in the Korn Ferry Tour standings and will also play on the PGA Tour in 2026.