Two American major winners sign up to become members of the DP World Tour for the 2026 season

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The 2026 DP World Tour season will begin at the Australian PGA Championship next week.

It’s a short turnaround since Matthew Fitzpatrick’s victory at the Tour Championship in Dubai.

The Tour will then be in Australia for two weeks, with Rory McIlroy playing in the subsequent event, the Australian Open.

Ahead of the new season, players from around the world have either renewed or signed up for DP World Tour membership.

The most notable additions to the list for 2026 are two recent major-winning golfers from the United States.

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Justin Thomas and J.J. Spaun become DP World Tour members

The official DP World Tour website lists all of the members for the 2026 season, which starts next week.

The top category consists of winners of the Race to Dubai between 2018 and 2025 and major winners from 2018 to 2026.

Rory McIlroy, Francesco Molinari, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Jon Rahm, and Patrick Reed are now joined by two new PGA Tour stars.

Justin Thomas and J.J. Spaun have joined the DP World Tour and will have an exemption into any event they wish to play.

This does not necessarily mean that Thomas and Spaun will play several DP World Tour events next season, but it is interesting nonetheless.

Other American members include Billy Horschel and Michael Kim, who have both been vocal about enjoying the Tour.

DP World Tour membership makes sense for Justin Thomas

Justin Thomas is currently rehabilitating from hip surgery and will not be competing for several months.

Thomas will definitely miss the start of the 2026 PGA Tour season, but there is no definitive timeline for his return.

Perhaps the 32-year-old has signed up to become a DP World Tour member as a precautionary measure, in case he takes longer than expected to recover.

If he were to miss four or five months of the PGA Tour season, he would then have only a handful of events before the FedEx Cup Playoffs in August.

This could persuade Thomas to participate in several DP World Tour events from September to November to regain confidence and world ranking points.