– It’s barely been a month since the DP World Tour handed out ten PGA Tour cards for 2026 to the top players in its ranking, and, well, well, it turns out we already have a candidate for 2027…
– It’s naturally Jayden Schaper, thanks to his sequence over the last three weeks: second in the Nedbank, winner of the Alfred Dunhill, and winner of the AfrAsia.
– The young South African already has 1,348 points in the Race to Dubai, a ranking in which he is currently the clear leader. It’s quite amusing, considering the early stage of the season we are in, to see how many points were needed at the end of the previous season to secure that coveted PGA Tour card. Well, Jordan Smith, who was the final holder of the tenth and last card, amassed an impressive 2,203 points, which is ‘only’ 855 points more than Schaper has already accumulated. The previous year, Tom McKibbin needed less: with 1,897 points, he secured a card for the American circuit, which is ‘only’ 549 points more than Schaper has already accumulated. If you look closely, it’s a neat little madness.
– This is where our milkmaid’s tale truly begins, because it turns out that Schaper, barring any surprises, will be present at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, the first tournament of the Rolex Series season, which, therefore, distributes a huge amount of points. Let’s see: a solo second place in Dubai grants 889 points, a figure with which Schaper would already surpass Jordan Smith’s recent benchmark and smash McKibbin’s…
– Will the young South African be able to achieve it? Let’s see: he wouldn’t even need to win, although the logic and mechanisms of high competition say no, that it’s really impossible, unless we’re dealing with cases like Scottie Scheffler. The truly inconceivable thing is that we can already be doing this kind of arithmetic in January, but of course, these crazy series (2nd, 1st, 1st) don’t happen just like that…
– The matter, in fact, goes a bit further, because it’s likely that Schaper will also be present at the Dubai Invitational, which takes place the week before the Desert Classic, a restricted field tournament, without a cut, where all participants earn points. Whether he does very well in this event or not so well, Schaper would arrive at the first Rolex Series of the season with an even richer points tally. Let’s admit it: to some extent, it’s legitimate for the milkmaid, in the guise of Jayden, to be making her calculations, with the jug on her head, overflowing not with milk but with points… And glory.
