Surviving on the DP World Tour is no easy task but that is the challenge that awaits Yannik Paul and many others at the Genesis Championship.
The German heads into the final event of the regular campaign in South Korea one spot beneath the projected cut-off to retain playing privileges for next season.
With the top 115 players on the Race to Dubai Rankings set to retain category 10 status for 2026 – thus enabling the security to build a schedule that includes entry into almost all DP World Tour events – Paul is playing for his livelihood this week.
READ MORE:
• A look at the bubble boys fighting for their card at the Genesis Championship
• The lowdown on Woo Jeong Hills - the DP World Tour's newest venue
Fail to make the cut at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club and the 31-year-old faces Qualifying School and, if unsuccessful at next month’s gruelling six-round Final Stage, a return to the HotelPlanner Tour from which he graduated in 2021.
A winner in his maiden DP World Tour season at the Mallorca Golf Open, Paul took to Tour life quickly and made it look easy, comfortably qualifying for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in 2022, ‘23 and ‘24.
But such is the unforgiving nature of golf as an inherently individual sport, past successes count for nothing in this brutal scenario.
"It comes down to this week, but I have had all season [so] I try to see it as another week," said Paul.
"No matter what I will be fine, so I don’t really try to put extra pressure on it.
"I just try to focus on myself. I don’t have to look at anybody else.
"I just want to execute good shots, try and play aggressive to my targets and see where life takes me."
Speaking with such a philosophical outlook during a practice round on the eve of the tournament is to be applauded.
Despite the seemingly make-or-break nature of the days ahead, Paul is hoping to harness the mixture of excitement and nervousness to his advantage.
“You build a strategy around the course based on trying to shoot the lowest score possible," he added.
"Even in a situation like this, you have to be able to hit aggressive shots and not try to steer it, play it safe.
"You have to hit good, committed shots and then you obviously need a bit of luck here and there because in golf there are a lot of things that you can’t control.
"Obviously, it’s on my mind but I still try not to put a special emphasis on just one event.
"I try to stay in the present, you are going to hit a lot of good shots, some bad shots, just like every other week.
"The importance is not to put a special emphasis on one bad shot and spiral from there."
At his best this season, Paul finished third at the Volvo China Open – a result that saw him leap up the Rankings – but that has been an outlier across his 25 appearances on the 2025 Race to Dubai schedule.
After sustaining a lower back injury earlier in the summer, Paul largely played through the pain - suggesting washing his face was hard during the initial stages - due to the significance of some of the events that he would have missed during the Back 9 phase of the campaign which reaches a climax this week.
On his return to Europe after the summer break, he missed four cuts in a six-event run that also featured a retirement in Denmark.
Significantly, perhaps, he picked up Race to Dubai points in the BMW PGA Championship on the Rolex Series stage in September, and he has made his last two cuts in Spain and India.
As small as it may seem, doing that for a third week in a row might just be enough to earn him a fifth consecutive season on Golf’s Global Tour.
“It’s been better the last couple of weeks," he said. "I had a bit of an injury in the summer that took a while to go away.
"It’s slowly getting better. I have played solidly the last couple of weeks, so I feel like I have a bit of momentum and stuff. I’ll just try and enjoy this week."
Amid the on-course challenges across a long and demanding season, the US-based Paul has had reason to smile off it, having married partner Kyla in August.
“I am a pretty positive person but you travel a lot by yourself and when you are by yourself in the hotel room the mind obviously goes all over the place," he reflected
"Overall, I am really happy with my life. Golf is obviously one big part.
"But I just try to see the big picture, I am still really grateful that I get to travel and do what I love.
"But that I think that is a part of golf, part of life. You can’t just always have ups, you have downs as well.
"What I like about golf is you can have one really good week and all of a sudden it is a completely different season almost."
In a situation like this, self-belief is all important and Paul appears to be keeping the faith.
"I try to just smile through it all, have a good mindset and be a good person first," he said.
"If you are a good person, have a positive outlook and try to help other people it will [reward] you. Maybe this week, maybe in two weeks, maybe next year. Who knows.
"The confidence is coming back. I’ll take it step by step."
