After five days, the finish line is in sight at Final Stage Qualifying School.
Here, ahead of the final round at INFINITUM on Wednesday, we focus on the key storylines at play as players vie to finish among the top 20 and ties and earn playing privileges on the DP World Tour for the 2026 season.
Lombard romping to victory
With back-to-back rounds of 64, Zander Lombard has taken complete control in Spain and holds a seven-shot lead heading into the final day’s play. An anterior cruciate ligament rupture and medial meniscus tear sustained playing padel last year meant he was on the sidelines for almost eight months, before returning to action in January. However, he was unable to register a top ten across his 23 starts on the Race to Dubai and lost his full playing privileges. He has since come through Second Stage and is now poised to top the leaderboard at Final Stage, something he also achieved at Q-School in 2018, only losing out to Alejandro Cañizares on countback. A seven-time runner-up on the DP World Tour, his talent is in no doubt and he’ll be confident of making the most of a quick return to Golf’s Global Tour when it comes tomorrow, surely.
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Lombard closing in on DP World Tour return at Qualifying School
From the Tartan Tour to the DP World Tour
After an impressive amateur career that included winning both the St. Andrews Links Trophy and Australian Amateur, Connor McKinney turned professional in late 2022. He qualified for The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in 2023, and predominantly played on the PGA TOUR of Australasia, alongside some appearances on the HotelPlanner Tour in 2024. Earlier this year, he was winning on the Tartan Tour in Scotland, but he is on track to end it by securing status on Golf’s Global Tour. After opening Q-School with a bogey-free 62 on Friday, the Scottish-born Australian has been near the top of the leaderboard and closed out his fifth round of the week with an eagle to move into solo second
Familiar DP World Tour names set to earn status
As with every year on the Qualifying School, there are several players with vast experience of the DP World Tour who are playing their way back shortly after losing their status at the end of the regular season in South Korea last month. Among those are India’s two-time DP World Tour winner Shubhankar Sharma, who endured a tough campaign on the Race to Dubai following a major overhaul of his equipment at the start of the year. However, the 2018 Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year has come through Second Stage and sits in a tie for fifth with 18 holes to play at Final Stage. English duo Nathan Kimsey and Matt Baldwin are a shot further back on the leaderboard, as is Canada’s Aaron Cockerill who only lost his card last month by five places on the Rankings. Adri Arnaus, a past winner on the DP World Tour, missed out on claiming a DP World Tour card via the HotelPlanner Tour this season but is set to quickly make amends after vaulting up the Q-School leaderboard with a flawless six-under-par 65 on Tuesday.
Work to do for fan favourite Pepperell
Eddie Pepperell missed out on earning DP World Tour status through Final Stage by one shot last year after lipping out for eagle on his final hole and the Englishman heads into the final round with all to play for again. Arguably the most high-profile name in the field, the two-time DP World Tour winner is one shot outside the required top 20 as things stand with 18 holes to play. While he has already told listeners of The Chipping Forecast podcast that he is committed to a full season on the HotelPlanner Tour if he doesn’t earn Category 18 DP World Tour status this week, he could fast-track his chances of regaining full playing privileges with a strong finish to the week in Tarragona. With rounds of 67, 68 and 67 over the last few days, he is clearly playing well enough, but he’ll need to count on all his experience if he is to realise the task he set out to achieve.
All the way from First Stage
With just one round left to navigate, there are five players who could be about to secure DP World Tour status having come through all three stages of Q-School. Alongside McKinney, Daniel Rodrigues, Quentin Debove, Andres German Gallegos and Frederico Biondi Figueiredo are all inside the top 20. Ranked 2,449 in the world rankings, Portugal’s Rodrigues is set to go from obscurity to the DP World Tour after a 65 on Tuesday left him in a tie for fifth alongside France’s Debove, who has played predominantly on the Alps Tour this year. Gallegos won his First Stage qualifier in France, while Biondi Figueiredo was victorious at First Stage in Belgium back in August. With cards on the HotelPlanner Tour seemingly a guarantee, could the South American duo be about to make Golf’s Global Tour have an even greater international presence?
