A win changes so much, opens so many new avenues. And for Tom McKibbin his breakthrough DP World Tour win in the Porsche European Open – apart from the immediate financial benefits – has propelled him into a brave new world where effectively he can reach for the sky.
With McKibbin’s improved category three status as a tournament winner enabling him to pick and choose where and when he wants to play, there comes too the incentive to push on in an attempt to earn a full PGA Tour card stateside for 2024.
Under the new partnership between the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour the US circuit is offering a pathway to the leading 10 players off the European circuit at the conclusion of the Race to Dubai into its 2024 schedule (which has been revamped and will run from January to August with no wraparound nature any more).
That group of 10 won’t include players like Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm, for example, who already hold PGA Tour cards so McKibbin has played himself very much into that mix now. The 20-year-old’s win in Hamburg moved him from 69th to 23rd on the Race to Dubai rankings, while he also moved up the world rankings from 335th to 162nd.
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Unfortunately McKibbin came up just shy in a bid to earn one of two US Open exemptions into next week’s championship in Los Angeles. The two spots were reserved for the leading two players not exempt in a mini-order of merit which ran from the Italian Open to the European Open, with Romain Langasque and Simon Forsstrom earning the exemptions. McKibbin was one place adrift.
Interestingly McKibbin’s improvement on the greens en route to his win came with a brand new putter in his bag. When in the TaylorMade tour truck ahead of the tournament he noticed a TP Bandon putter that had actually been built for another TaylorMade brand player, gave it a test and worked on it with one of the company’s technicians, Alex Maine, who did a loft and lie check and equipped the putter with a graphite shaft. Hey presto and the change worked wonders.
McKibbin has time on his side as he pursues his professional career which is only two years in the making but which has seen him make huge strides so quickly.
As Rory McIlroy observed of his fellow-Holywood Golf Club member, “I think to break through and win for the first time at 20 years old is (brilliant), there’s a bright future ahead of him. I’m so happy and so proud of him, really. I’ve known Tom since he was 10 years old and to see his progression and see where he is today and get that first win in Europe is really cool to see.”
McIlroy, who had got up early in order to watch McKibbin’s route to victory, wasn’t able to emulate him in the Memorial tournament where a disappointing closing round 75 left him four strokes off the number that saw Viktor Hovland and Denny McCarthy into a playoff, which the Norwegian won.
“I feel a lot more positive about things than I was two weeks ago at Oak Hill (in the US PGA Championship). Even though the results might reflect that I had a better week at Oak Hill, for example, but I feel a lot more positive about everything going forward. It’s nice. I’ve got (this) week, get straight back on the horse again in Canada and try to take the learnings from (Memorial) and try to do a little bit better,” said McIlroy, who is the defending champion at the Canadian Open and seeking a third straight win in the tournament. It will also serve as the final tournament before next week’s US Open at Los Angeles Country Club.
He added: “I hit a couple of loose shots on the back nine that at least I know where they’re coming from, which is good. It’s a step in the right direction. I feel a little better about everything compared to where I was a couple of weeks ago. It’s obviously not the result that I wanted but I feel like there was a few more positives than there was a couple of weeks ago.”
McIlroy is one of three Irish players in the field for the Canadian Open at Oakdale Country Club in Toronto. Shane Lowry, who improved from 93rd to 88th in the updated FedEx Cup standings after his tied-16th place finish in the Memorial, is also playing, along with Dubliner David Carey who came through tournament pre-qualifying to earn a spot in the field.
