Like in many sports, some countries are blessed with a plethora of talent competing on golf’s global stage while others are searching for new hopefuls to emerge.
In Daniel Rodrigues, a graduate of all three stages at this year’s Qualifying School, Portugal has hope it has a player who can capitalise on the springboard of DP World Tour membership and establish himself over the coming years.
Since the inception of the DP World Tour in 1972, 110 Portuguese players have competed on golf’s global Tour with just five of those making 50 or more appearances and José-Filipe Lima and Daniel Silva the only two to have won a title.
For many years, Ricardo Gouveia - a seven-time winner on the HotelPlanner Tour - has flown the flag almost single-handedly for Portuguese golf on the DP World Tour.
But with Pedro Figueiredo falling short in his bid to regain DP World Tour status at Final Stage qualifying last week, Rodrigues will now offer the experienced Gouveia company in holding playing privileges on the 2026 Race to Dubai.
And for the former top-ranked amateur in his home country, who graduated from Texas A&M University last year, the opportunity ahead of him is a source of great excitement.
"It’s the dream," he told the DP World Tour.
"To hold a card on any main tour is amazing. To do it at 23 years old… if you had asked me if I was going to be able to do it then I’d have probably said you’re crazy.
"Especially from where I’m from. There are not many players from Portugal that have ever done that."
It's perhaps no wonder then why President of the Portuguese Golf Federation Pedro Nunes Pedro, who played in his country's national open on the DP World Tour on three occassions in the 1980s, described Rodrigues' feat on social media as “a great day for golf in Portugal”.
Rodrigues turned professional last summer, and has since played predominantly on the HotelPlanner Tour through invites after initially gaining some experience in the paid ranks on the Portugal Tour.
His journey at Qualifying School began in early September in Belgium at Hulencourt, where he finished fourth at the First Stage event.
Two appearances on the HotelPlanner Tour in his homeland and Italy followed, before he earned his place at the Final Stage by placing in a tie for fifth at Second Stage at the Desert Springs Resort in Spain.
Final Stage is described as one of golf's toughest tests, with the event played across six rounds and experience appearing an attribute on paper.
However, Rodrigues disproved that theory with an assured performance at INFINITUM in Spain as he carded six sub-70 rounds to finish in a tie for fifth and celebrate hard-earned DP World Tour status.
Reflecting on his DP World Tour Qualifying School journey, he said: "You don’t get chances like this every time.
"Coming into the week I did not know what to expect but you just try to do what you have been doing all the way from First Stage all the way here. I’m happy."
Rodrigues will tee it up in the opening event of the new DP World Tour season at the BMW Australian PGA Championship and days later he is line to be in action in America at the second stage of PGA TOUR Q-School, after comfortably coming through first stage last month in Texas.
In his own words, the past few weeks have been a "marathon" of golf but he is full of confidence in his game as he seeks to give himself as many playing opportunities as possible worldwide next year.
"I am doing it [Q-School] both here and, in the US, and it’s a bit of a grind but it’s just what you have to do to be where you want to be," he said.
