Matt Fitzpatrick concerned at state of link between PGA and DP tours

Matt Fitzpatrick, the US Open champion, has expressed concern over the state of the DP World Tour despite the strategic alliance formed with its equivalent in the United States.

The PGA Tour has recently announced changes for 2024, including a batch of no-cut and limited field events, which Fitzpatrick fears leaves the former European Tour trailing as a poor second. Fitzpatrick has previously used the term “feeder tour” to describe the DP World circuit.

“You’ve only got to look at the fields back home and how many times the top players are going back to play,” said Fitzpatrick after a second round of 71 at the Players Championship. “My biggest gripe is that the PGA Tour aren’t doing enough, if it’s a strategic alliance, to help build up the DP World Tour.

“People will say I’m one of those who have left the European Tour but I haven’t. I still play over there. But the best players are over here and I need to compete against them as often as I can. I’ll still go back but I really don’t know how often you can do that when it’s all geared to playing here.”

Keith Pelley, the DP World Tour’s chief executive, spent the early part of this week at Sawgrass in meetings with the PGA Tour’s management. It seems logical that enhancements to the DP World Tour’s schedule will soon be announced. The PGA and DP World Tours came together in a bid to head off the threat posed by the rebel LIV platform. Still, certain players such as Fitzpatrick appear not wholly convinced.

Fitzpatrick is similarly sceptical over the handing of 10 PGA Tour cards to otherwise non-exempt players from the DP World Tour at the end of each season. “It adds to the message that you’ve got to play over here,” said the Yorkshireman. “It will just make it more