The 2026 DP World Tour season gets under way Down Under as Royal Queensland Golf Club plays host to the BMW Australian PGA Championship
A new season
Eleven days after the 2025 Race to Dubai ended at Jumeirah Golf Estates, a new season begins for 2026. While a host of familiar venues and events return including Rolex Series extravaganzas and storied national opens, there is also plenty of new action to get excited about.
The Dubai Invitational is back after a year off in 2025 and it joins the inaugural Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship and the Corales Puntacana Championship as additions to the schedule.
Historic events also have some new venues with Royal Johannesburg Golf Club hosting the Alfred Dunhill Championship and Trump International Golf Links Ireland playing host to the Amgen Irish Open.
The season is once again split into three phases with the five Global Swings being followed by the Back 9 and DP World Tour Play-Offs and with a minimum of 42 events in 25 different countries, Golf's Global Tour is truly Where the World Comes to Play.
For full details of the 2026 DP World Tour global schedule, click here.
Smylie defends
Twelve months ago, Elvis Smylie showed nerves of steel to fend off the challenge of his golfing idol Cam Smith to claim his maiden DP World Tour title with a wire-to-wire victory. The then 22-year-old only secured his first professional success at the Bowra & O'Dea Nexus Advisernet WA Open a month earlier on the PGA Tour of Australasia and continued his rich vein of form with a two-shot triumph at Royal Queensland Golf Club.
Smylie was one of two players to receive the Cameron Smith Scholarship in 2019 and he began the third and final round alongside the three-time winner of this event in an all-Australian final group including Marc Leishman.
The son of four-time grand slam doubles champion Liz Smylie displayed calmness with a number clutch par putts down the stretch for a flawless 67 in his total of -14 finishing two clear of Smith. "It's a dream come true," Smylie said. "My mum and dad have been with me every step of the way. I saw my mum in the corner there, tearing up before I holed that last putt so everyone who has been on this journey with me they know how hard I've worked to be here and hopefully this is just the start of good things to come."
Smylie would be in the mix for dual membership with the PGA TOUR all season, finally finishing 23rd as the top Australian on the 2025 Race to Dubai.
Home heroes set to shine
Following this week's event comes the Crown Australian Open and the cream of Australian golfing talent will be joining Smylie in spending the next two weeks on home soil.
EDIT >>>> The big news of course is Rory Mcllroy has signed up to play the Australian Open this year and again in 2026 at Kingston Heath returning for the first time since 2014. He won in 2013 at Royal Sydney.
" The success of the Australian Open is important for the global game. I am proud to be committing for the next 2 year especially since it is being played on the world class Melbourne sandbelt somewhere I have always wanted to play professionally"
World Number 46 Min Woo Lee will lead the home charge and he is joined by Major Champions Adam Scott and Smith. DP World Tour regulars Jason Scrivener and David Micheluzzi will also be looking to shine on home soil as will Connor McKinney, who makes his first start as a full member after coming through the Qualifying School. Add in veteran stars like Peter Lonard, Greg Chalmers and Geoff Ogilvy and the home fans will have plenty to cheer.
New season, new starts
With an influx of graduates from both the HotelPlanner Tour and Qualifying School, a mix of old and new faces tee it up this week in the hope of starting the season strongly. David Law, a winner in Australia on the DP World Tour, returns from the HotelPlanner Tour along with veteran Englishman James Morrison who has also regained his card, while Austrian Maximilian Steinlechner and Italy's Stefano Mazzoli lead the new faces making the step up.
Eddie Pepperell and Adri Arnaus are both back via the Qualifying School after seasons away and join Aaron Cockerill, Shubhankar Sharma and Nathan Kimsey who all regained their cards at the first time of asking after not making the top 115 on the Race to Dubai Rankings in 2025.
Portuguese Daniel Rodrigues makes just his second start and first in six years after coming through the INFINITUM marathon, joining fellow newcomers Jack Yule, Mike Toorop, Hunter Logan, Federico Biondi Figueiredo and Andres German Gallegos.
Yellow for Jarrod
It is seven years since Jarrod Lyle sadly lost his long battle with leukemia at the age of just 36 but the Australian is still well and fondly remembered throughout the golfing world.
Having first been diagnosed with the disease as a teenager, Lyle did much to raise awareness through wearing his trademark yellow, the colour of Leuk the Duck, the mascot for Challenge, a not for profit organisation that supports children with cancer. In that spirit, Friday at the BMW Australian PGA Championship is Yellow Day in Lyle's honour, with players, staff and fans all encouraged to wear yellow.
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
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