Tour chief hopes for ‘different schedule’ in 2026

The DP World Tour’s chief executive Guy Kinnings admits he hopes for a different look to his circuit’s schedule for the 2026 season.

Barring a handful of changes to venues and tournaments, Wentworth HQ has announced a largely similar schedule for the 2025 campaign.

Meanwhile, however, the men’s professional game remains in a state of flux.

Patience is wearing thin with the talent pool still divided between the breakaway LIV Golf League – funded by the Saudi Investment Fund – and the DP World and PGA Tours. Each circuit continues to plough on independently while the game’s powerbrokers look for a resolution to bring the warring factions together.

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But Kinnings, who replaced Keith Pelley as the frontman of European golf this year, is hopeful that a merger deal could lead to a “different schedule” in 2026.

“We all hope there may be a different schedule in 2026 but who knows what that might be,” Kinnings told BBC Sport‘s Ian Carter at this week’s DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

“We can only focus on what we can control and that is to make the 2025 schedule as good as it can be.”

Kinnings was also asked about the impact of Donald Trump’s re-election as US President after Rory McIlroy’s assertion that his return to the White House could expedite a golf peace deal.

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“To have a president who wants the best for the game has to be a good thing. You have to welcome that,” said Kinnings. “It will require everyone to pull together to make sure we do the best for the game. We have to fix these things.”

On Tuesday, Kinnings unveiled a 2025 schedule that will feature a minimum of 42 tournaments held across 26 different countries.

Players will compete for a record total prize fund of $153 (£120m) in events not including the four majors. The notable tweaks include the return of the Austrian and Turkish Opens, with the Andalucia Masters, European Open and Scandinavian Mixed tournament no longer on the schedule.

To see the DP World Tour’s 2025 schedule in full, click here.

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.