01꿈의 무대로 향하는 관문, 108홀의 가혹한 시험대
DP 월드 투어 입성을 향한 가장 험난한 여정인 'Q-스쿨(Qualifying School) 최종 스테이지'가 막을 올린다. 이번 대회는 다음 시즌 투어 카드를 확보하기 위해 전 세계에서 모여든 선수들이 6일간 총 108홀을 도는 강행군을 펼치며, 상위 20위(및 동점자) 안에 들어야만 꿈에 그리던 시드권을 손에 넣을 수 있는 골프계의 가장 가혹한 시험대다.
이번 대회에는 투어 복귀를 노리는 베테랑들과 생애 첫 1부 투어 진출을 꿈꾸는 신예들이 대거 출전해 뜨거운 열기를 더하고 있다. 챌린지 투어에서 실력을 검증받은 유망주들은 물론, 지난 시즌 아쉽게 투어 카드를 유지하지 못한 실력파 선수들이 배수진을 치고 출사표를 던졌다.
6라운드라는 긴 일정 속에서 체력적인 부담과 극심한 정신적 압박감을 극복하는 것이 우승의 핵심이다. 4라운드 종료 후 상위권 선수들만이 남은 이틀간의 결선 라운드에 진출할 수 있는 만큼, 매 라운드 한 타 한 타가 선수들의 운명을 결정짓는 살얼음판 승부가 이어질 전망이다.
02Original (English) — DP World Tour
With one day to go at DP World Tour Final Stage Qualifying School, the picture is becoming clearer in the marathon six-round battle.
At the close of play on Wednesday, the top 15 and ties will earn a coveted card on golf's global Tour as Category 18 members at the start of the upcoming 2027 season.
For those who finish 16th to 40th, they will earn Category 9 on the HotelPlanner Tour and those from 41st place will be in Category 13.
With 66 players having made the 72-hole cut, the climax is sure to bring about a mixture of emotions among those teeing it up for one final time over the Lakes course at INFINITUM.
Here, we set the scene for what promises to be an intriguing and pressure-filled climax in Spain.
After five days, with the first four played across both the Lakes and Hills courses, the leaderboard is incredibly tightly packed. Six shots separate the top 23 players, with those at 18 under, nine back, inside the top 30. Tom Lewis and Marcus Helligkilde hold a share of the lead at 27 under, with Spanish pair Rocco Repetto Taylor and Jose Luis Ballester, Australia's Cameron John and France's Paul Beauvy a shot adrift in a tie for third. Two-time DP World Tour winner Byeong Hun An is in a tie for 12th, with 18 players currently projected to claim DP World Tour Category 18 membership.
The biggest riser on the leaderboard on what was effectively Moving Day was Jannik De Bruyn, who shot a ten under 61 to get to 24 under. "I am just looking forward to tomorrow, just to have a chance," said the German, who missed out on making it to the HotelPlanner Tour's Grand Final. "It's what I wanted when I came into the week. I can't complain how the first five rounds went."
In a sign of how global the field is, players from 11 nationalities are represented in the top 18.
To view the leaderboard in full ahead of the final round, click here.
Every now and again you get a storyline where it's impossible to not root for an individual, and in Tom Lewis this week we have that. The Englishman, a name familiar within the game ever since winning the Silver Medal as low amateur at The Open in 2011, is closing in on getting back onto the DP World Tour for the second time in the last three years after also emerging from Final Stage in 2023. The fact he is here is remarkable, having initially missed out at Second Stage only to win a play-off to be an alternate and later getting the good news he was in the 156-player field. A two-time DP World Tour winner, he has put himself in a great position to return to a stage he knows well - now to close it out. As is so often said, the hardest part is still to be done.
Speaking to the DP World Tour on Tuesday, Lewis said: "I think more importantly for me it is about going out there and trying to win this event. That’s what I tried to do today and I feel like I have got somewhere around there. The rest will take care of itself.
"I will try and put myself under a bit of pressure but handle it. That is something I need to do better now. If I go on to do that, put myself in big events… I have probably wasted a lot of my years that we expected I should have been better, but fingers crossed I can go out, do the job and go on from there."
To read about the background to Lewis' rollercoaster ride to just get to Final Stage, click here.
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Winner of this event two years ago, Edoardo Molinari is using all his years of experience as he targets a 20th consecutive campaign with full playing rights on the DP World Tour. Prior to arriving in Spain, the Italian spoke of how he wanted to prove "I can still play at the highest level of the game" after an injury-affected past two years. After a 66 in the fifth round, his fifth under par total of the week, he will start the final day one shot outside the projected cut off for Category 18 membership.
Ahmad Baig is looking to become the first golfer from Pakistan to hold DP World Tour membership. Prior to starting his first foray at Qualifying School earlier this year, he had never played in Europe. But after navigating the first two stages across Germany and Spain, winning the latter earlier this month, Baig is a round away from sealing the deal. Following a four-under-par 68 at the Hills on Monday that saw him bounce back from a double bogey at the first, he went lower with a 67 on the Lakes on Tuesday to reach 20 under and give him a great chance at a landmark achievement.
"I finished birdie-birdie yesterday and had good momentum for today," he told the DP World Tour. "I had a really good start this morning... [then] at 16 was a 'lucky' hole. I hit a straight drive and hit three wood from 285 yards to the centre of the green and made the putt. That was an amazing eagle, and then I birdied the last. On the front nine I made a lot of good up-and- downs which helped.
"I will give my 100%, there is no planning to it. I will follow my game and my routine, that's it. No stress!"
Joining Baig in harbouring genuine ambitions of coming through three stages of qualifying are several others. Beauvy was an amateur when he competed at First Stage but he turned professional ahead of Second Stage, having made his DP World Tour debut a month earlier at the FedEx Open de France. Sweden's David Nyfjall has competed predominantly on the Cutter & Buck Tour - part of the Nordic Golf League - this year, finishing second on their Order of Merit, and with HotelPlanner Tour status already assured the Swede is hoping to improve on that and is well placed in a tie for eighth ahead of the final 18 holes. Another going strong is American Jansen Preston, who shot a 64 and a second consecutive bogey-free scorecard to get to 22 under and heads into the final day among the top 15 and ties. Speaking post round, the 26-year-old, who started his Qualifying School journey in Sweden before progressing from Desert Springs Resort in Spain last week, said: "I worked on some ball striking yesterday and finally got some momentum on that side of things. It would mean a lot [to get a DP World Tour card]. It's the reason we've come, it's the goal."
Whatever the outcome, Dean Greyserman will officially turn professional following Final Stage. The American, whose older brother Max is a PGA Tour player, has membership on the PGA Tour Americas sewn up following a third-place finish on the 2026 Global Amateur Pathway. A Stanford University graduate, the 23-year-old, birdied seven of his first nine holes in the final round at Second Stage and has brought across that momentum to INFINITUM, where he has experienced English caddie Jamie Herbert on his bag. Two birdies over his final three holes on Tuesday saw him card a 67 to get to 21 under, six shots adrift of the lead.