Every new season on the DP World Tour brings with it opportunities for players to make their emergence.
For some, it is a fresh hope, while for others it can be a chance they’re being presented with for the first time.
Through the various pathways onto Golf’s Global Tour, there is an array of international talent bidding to make their mark – but seizing the moment is a challenge.
Here, we assess seven graduates from the HotelPlanner Tour, Qualifying School and Global Amateur Pathway Rankings who have impressed with their performances so far on the 2025 Race to Dubai.
John Parry
The leader of the pack. At 38, the Englishman is the oldest of the players we’re spotlighting but he is also setting the standard in fourth on the Race to Dubai Rankings. Unlike the others, he came into the season with more than his fair share of experience on the DP World Tour having made his debut as an amateur in 2007. After winning three times on the HotelPlanner Tour last year to earn automatic promotion to Golf’s Global Tour, he didn’t take long to celebrate more success. He got off to a great start in the 2025 season with a tie for eighth at the BMW Australian PGA Championship and a tie for second at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa, before he secured his second DP World Tour title, 14 years on from his first at the Vivendi Cup in his rookie campaign in 2010. To reach the cusp of the top 100 on the Official World Golf Ranking seemed hard to imagine when he was playing on the EuroPro Tour in 2021. Despite three consecutive missed cuts during the International Swing – including on his Rolex Series debut in Dubai – at the start of the new year, he was back in title contention at the Magical Kenya Open presented by absa before settling for a runner-up finish as he rose to a career-high 91st in the world. After playing in all of the first 13 full-field events on the schedule, he opted to skip the double-header in China and should return to action refreshed in Turkey.
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen
A player who seems destined to make a big mark in the sport. Since claiming his maiden professional victory just over 12 months ago at the Kolkata Challenge, the Dane has been on an almost constant upward trajectory. Like Parry, he won three times on the HotelPlanner Tour to earn instant status on the DP World Tour as he finished the year as the Road to Mallorca winner. The 25-year-old finished in the top ten at the season-opener in Australia and was later announced as part of the Continental Europe side for the Team Cup – a sign of how highly regarded he is. A week later, he finished in a tie for tenth on his Rolex Series debut in Dubai, carding a closing 66 at Emirates Golf Club. He went one better in the final round in Qatar a month later as he missed out on his first DP World Tour title by one stroke to Haotong Li. A graduate of Oklahoma State University, he repeated the feat on his PGA TOUR debut at the Puerto Rico Open last month while playing on an invite. That got him a second start at the Valspar Championship where he finished in a tie for 22nd. Such has been his form, he was the highest-ranked player in the field at both the Volvo China Open and Hainan Classic, justifying his standing with a top ten in Shanghai followed by a tp five at Mission Hills Haikou last week.
Brandon Robinson Thompson
Last season saw 16 of the 21 HotelPlanner Tour graduates retain their DP World Tour card and the Englishman is among the contingent from the 2024 cohort well placed to underline the depth of talent coming through the ranks. A professional since 2017, he played on several tours on the international stage but has found his stride over the past couple of years and is relishing the challenge on Golf’s Global Tour. With Major Championship experience, he was perhaps better equipped than most for the step up but has certainly made an impression in his rookie season. A course-record 61 in the first round of the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship proved the springboard for a strong spell in the desert as he recorded back-to-back top tens during the International Swing. Another followed in Joburg, before back-to-back top 20s in Singapore and India highlighted his ability to perform in varying conditions. Like others being profiled, he has climbed the world rankings over recent months and finds himself inside the top 200.
Angel Ayora
Like so many emerging talents, he is not short in confidence and has big ambitions. After beginning the 2024 HotelPlanner Tour season playing on invites, he would end the year fourth in the Rankings, recording a breakthrough professional win at the Rosa Challenge Tour in Poland and six other top tens. Only 20 years old, he is the youngest member of last year’s HotelPlanner Tour graduates. Despite this, such was the impact he made at that level last year he was being tipped by former players who have moved into broadcasting as a player to watch out for in his rookie DP World Tour season. He was out of the blocks quickly with top tens in Brisbane and at Leopard Creek, and while things have since not been so easy, he is unquestionably a player with a bright future. He has set his sights on claiming one of the ten dual member cards onto the PGA TOUR via the Race to Dubai Rankings. He made his third PGA TOUR start at last week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans alongside fellow Spaniard Alejandro del Rey. Ranked in the top ten for strokes gained off the tee on the DP World Tour, his form over the coming months will be of great interest as the Tour heads for Europe.
Martin Couvra
Another rising star enjoying life in his rookie season on the DP World Tour. He turned professional at 20 in September 2023 - days after becoming just the seventh player to win on the HotelPlanner Tour as an amateur. But even before then, he had showcased his potential by winning three high-profile competitions in South African amateur golf. After securing promotion to the DP World Tour last year, aided by a seventh top ten of the year at the Rolex Grand Final supported by The R&A, he has more than proven he can contend on this elevated platform, registering three top tens in his first five starts of the season. He then bolstered his points haul on the Race to Dubai by finishing in a tie for 14th in Singapore and is comfortably inside the top 40 on the season-long charts. With events on the horizon in conditions in which he is more accustomed to playing, he will be optimistic of building on the platform he has provided himself.
Jacob Skov Olesen
The one graduate of Qualifying School to feature in our shortlist. After securing his DP World Tour card at INFINITIM in early November, the 25-year-old relinquished his amateur status and with it his invite to the 2025 Masters Tournament as the winner of The Amateur Championship. But despite that robbing him of that opportunity, he will be confident he can one day play over the hallowed fairways of Augusta National. Still only five months or so into his professional career, he appears to be the latest on the product line of Danish golf talent. Having started his rookie DP World Tour season just inside the world’s top 850, he finds himself 424th after a strong run of finishes in different continents over the past couple of months. With three top tens already to his name this season, he will be targeting qualification for the season-ending DP World Tour Play-Offs in the United Arab Emirates. Everything points to a continued acceleration in his development.
Wenyi Ding
There are many routes to a card on the DP World Tour and the Chinese benefited from the most recent to be introduced. Launched by the DP World Tour, PGA TOUR and The R&A last year, the Global Amateur Pathway provided non-collegiate amateur players with a chance to take the next step in their careers. Victory at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship helped him top the standings, and since joining the paid ranks upon his graduation to the DP World Tour he has enhanced his burgeoning reputation. One month younger than Ayora, he is the youngest of the seven players featured. Since missing the cut on his first start on Tour at the BMW Australian PGA Championship, he has made his subsequent 12. In that run, he has registered two top tens – including one on home soil at the Volvo China Open. Further to that, he has finished in the top 20 at four of the last five events and results suggest he is becoming more and more at ease despite the new surroundings. With more new courses and countries to visit over the coming months, it will be a source of interest to see how he continues to fare.
