Rasmus Hojgaard of Denmark is assured of being among the top 10 players on the European tour to earn a PGA Tour card by 2025, making it the second consecutive year of identical twins on the PGA Tour. His brother Nicolai got one of those European places last year.

Pierceson and Parker Coody, grandsons of former Masters champion Charles Coody, had tour cards this season.

More pairs of identical twins may not be far behind on multiple tours.

Jeremy Paul of Germany earned a PGA Tour card for 2025 through the Korn Ferry Tour. His twin brother, Yannik Paul, is on the European tour and has a good chance of getting one of the 10 cards for the PGA Tour.

In Japan, the 22-year-old Iwai twins, Akie and Chisato, each have three wins on the Japan LPGA this year and are both ranked in the top 50 in the world.

Identical twins are nothing new in golf (think Curtis and Allen Strange), but it’s no longer a novelty.

The Hojgaard twins are the most successful. Nicolai made his Ryder Cup debut on Marco Simone in Italy last year. Rasmus has five European tour titles, two more than his brother. Nicolai is currently ranked 55th in the world, Rasmus is 56th heading into the HSBC Championships in Abu Dhabi this week.

Rasmus almost earned a PGA Tour card last year, after losing 10th place in the tournament finals to Matthieu Pavon.

“It was probably good that Nicolai went there to begin with,” he said Tuesday in Abu Dhabi. “Now I can guide myself and I hope I don’t make the same mistakes. “We talked a lot about it and yes, we will probably find a place there and make it easier, without traveling across the Atlantic every two weeks.”

The Hojgaards and Coody made a small piece of PGA Tour history this year when both sets of identical twins played in the Zurich Classic in New Orleans.

The Danish twins will most likely be the only ones on the PGA Tour in 2025. Pierceson Coody is ranked 130th in the FedEx Cup, while Parker Coody is ranked 169th with three tournaments remaining.

The Paul brothers went their separate ways after playing college golf in Colorado. Yannik is ranked 155th in the world because he earned more ranking points on the European tour. Jeremy beat him on the PGA Tour, at least for now. Yannik is 43rd in the Race to Dubai and would need a big week in Abu Dhabi to make up ground and claim his 10th PGA Tour card.

Interestingly, her time in Colorado coincided with another pair of identical twins competing for the Buffaloes: Jenny and Kristin Coleman, who played on the Epson Tour. Jenny Coleman made it to the LPGA Tour (including this year), while her sister never made it past the Epson Tour in development.

Go back two decades to find Aree and Naree Song on the LPGA Tour. Aree Song was runner-up in the Kraft Nabisco Championship at age 17 in 2004, the same year her sister won on what is now the Epson Tour.

As for the Iwai twins, their record on Japan’s LPGA is also nearly identical. Both have won three times this year. Akie is number 26 in the world, Chisato is number 48. Both played in the US Women’s Open and the Women’s British Open. Chisato tied for 19th at the US Women’s Open and Akie tied for seventh at St. Andrews.

Scott’s schedule.

Adam Scott has been loyal over the years to his native Australia, often playing in the Australian PGA and Australian Open, and in the Australian Masters when it was held. One year he played all three, plus the Golf World Cup in Australia.

Only twice, when there were no travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was Scott unable to return home, in 2018 and 2008.

But this has been a long year and Scott will stay home in Switzerland after the European tour season ends.

“Throughout my career I have always done my best to return to Australia and compete in at least some of our big local events,” Scott told Australian Golf Digest. “This year will be an exception as I need to spend some quality time with my family and get some rest.”

The HSBC Abu Dhabi Championship is his 23rd tournament this season, a year that included him as part of the PGA Tour’s board of directors as it navigates a potential deal with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Scott, 44, is ranked No. 19 in the world, his highest ranking in more than four years.

LPGA awards

Now that Nelly Korda has won LPGA Player of the Year, there are still two awards left to decide.

The LPGA said Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand withdrew from The Annika next week in Florida, meaning she will not have enough rounds to qualify for the Vare Trophy by lowest scoring average. The award comes with a point toward the Hall of Fame. Korda is also ineligible for not playing enough rounds.

Ayaka Furue of Japan has a slight lead over Haeran Ryu of South Korea for the Vare Trophy.

Mao Saigo of Japan leads the race for the rookie of the year award, ahead of Jin Hee Im. Saigo will not defend her LPGA title in Japan this week in order to play in the Lotte Championship in Hawaii.

Programming problem

The PGA Tour Champions has released its 2025 schedule and it includes a particularly busy week in May.

The Regions Tradition, the first of five majors on the senior circuit, is scheduled for May 15-18, following an open date. It’s a curious choice because it’s the same week as the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.

It is the only time that a senior specialization and a regular specialization take place in the same week. And because PGA champions are exempt for life, that means Padraig Harrington, YE Yang and John Daly will have to decide between a senior major and the PGA Championship.

Great champions in India

The Hindustan Times reports that US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau is likely to play the first Asian Tour “International Series” event to be held in India next year, along with the rest of his Crushers teammates. LIV Golf. That includes India’s Anirban Lahiri.

“If everything goes well, I’m very excited about the opportunity to play in India,” DeChambeau told the newspaper. “I have never been there, but it is a country that has fascinated me.”

The report indicated that DeChambeau would be the first reigning major champion to play in India, and was picked up by several media outlets.

That would ignore Australia’s Peter Thomson.

Thomson was the reigning British Open champion (1965 at Royal Birkdale, the last of his five Open titles) when he played in the 1966 Indian Open held that year in April. Thomson also won the inaugural Indian Open in 1964 and was optimistic about its potential as a golf market.

Divots

A couple of teenagers are on tour this week. Dylan Brack, an 18-year-old from California, makes his PGA Tour debut after qualifying for the Tech World Championship in Mexico. Honorine Nobuta Ferry, 14, received a sponsor exemption for the Lotte Championship in Hawaii on the LPGA. …Florida State’s Luke Clanton, the No. 1-ranked player in the world in the amateurs, is among 16 players invited to the Walker Cup practice session. Next year’s games will be held at Cypress Point. …ESPN+ will offer featured group coverage of the CME Group Tour Championship on the LPGA. …Thriston Lawrence of South Africa heads the 10 members of the European tour who will receive PGA Tour cards next year. Romain Langasque of France is number 10 by a narrow margin (44 points) over Tom McKibbin of Northern Ireland.

Statistics of the week

Only six players of the 120 players at the World Technology Championship in Mexico are already in the Masters. This week’s winner gets an invite to the Masters.

final word

“My intention when I was young was to play amateur golf. “I only turned pro because I was beating the guys who were turning pro.” — Padraig Harrington, inducted this year into the World Golf Hall of Fame.