01마지막 기회, 제네시스 챔피언십에서 결정되는 시드권의 향방
DP월드투어 일정의 중요한 분수령이 될 제네시스 챔피언십이 다가오면서, 다음 시즌 투어 카드를 지키기 위한 선수들의 치열한 경쟁이 최고조에 달하고 있다. 이번 대회는 잔류와 탈락의 갈림길에 선 선수들에게 시드권을 확보할 수 있는 사실상 마지막 기회가 될 예정이다.
투어 카드는 선수들의 차기 시즌 대회 출전 자격을 결정지을 핵심 요소로, 포인트 랭킹 경계선에 걸쳐 있는 선수들에게 이번 대회 성적은 무엇보다 절실하다. 제네시스 챔피언십에서 얻는 최종 결과에 따라 수많은 선수들의 다음 해 주무대가 달라진다.
단 한 타 차이로 투어 카드 유지 여부가 갈릴 수 있는 만큼, 출전 선수들은 배수의 진을 치고 매 라운드 신중한 플레이를 펼칠 것으로 보인다. 극적인 반전으로 시드를 사수하려는 하위권 선수들과 자리를 지키려는 선수들 간의 숨 막히는 불꽃 대결이 골프 팬들의 시선을 사로잡고 있다.
02Original (English) — DP World Tour
After 38 events across the past ten months, the immediate future for some players on the DP World Tour depends on their performance at this week's Genesis Championship.
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Wherever it is held, the final event of the regular season brings drama aplenty and for the third year running South Korea is the base for it to unfold.
The top 100 on the 2026 Race to Dubai Rankings Delivered by DP World at the close of the tournament on Sunday will earn a full card for the 2027 season, after the cut-off was reduced from the top 110 last year as part of changes made to the DP World Tour's membership structure.
For those who finish outside the all-important mark, a potential trip to Qualifying School awaits.
Those players who finish in positions 101-110 on the Rankings will be eligible for Category 18 (conditional card) and will be initially ranked below the Qualifying School graduates. They will be re-ranked during the season alongside the Qualifying School graduates.
Here, we take a look at some of the players on either side of the top 100 teeing it up at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club, along with some other established figures needing a big week.
*Anyone from Marcus Kinhult in 94th place is at risk.
The Scot made his DP World Tour debut as an amateur in 2010, but it wasn’t until the 2019 season that he held full playing rights as a graduate of the HotelPlanner Tour in 2018. In his rookie campaign on the DP World Tour, he became a winner at the ISPS HANDA Vic Open in Australia. He retained his playing rights through to losing them at the end of the 2024 season after failing to register a top ten for the first time since the Covid-affected 2020 campaign. Twice a winner on the HotelPlanner Tour last year to regain his DP World Tour status, he has made 19 of 29 cuts leading into this week but has just one top ten to show for it. The 35-year-old has been an ever-present during the Back 9 and will complete that set of appearances in South Korea. Across that run, he has made the cut on each occassion, and a repeat of that could well rubber-stamp his playing rights into 2027.
The DP World Tour's youngest-ever winner knows better than most the highs and lows that can come with a career as a golfer. After reaching a career-high 25th in the Official World Golf Ranking in 2013, shortly after after winning the prestigious BMW PGA Championship to become a four-time DP World Tour winner, he suffered a loss of form that saw him tumble down to 1,805th in 2020. The recovery started that season with a win on the Alps Tour, before two wins on the HotelPlanner Tour followed and a fifth DP World Tour title came his way in South Africa - nearly 11 years after the last. That along with a further seven top tens helped him finish 12th on the Race to Dubai Rankings in 2024 as he earned PGA Tour dual membership. But he struggled to adjust to the week-to-week rigours stateside and has this season played solely on the DP World Tour. He has hovered around the top 100 for several weeks but importantly moved back inside the cut-off by finishing 34th last time out in India, where he enjoyed his only top ten of the year so far.
*The players ranked 99th (Eddie Pepperell) and 100th (Viktor Hovland) are not in the field for the Genesis Championship. Hovland is already exempt for the 2027 season as a member of the 2025 European Ryder Cup team.
The Swede won in his first full season on the DP World Tour in 2019 as a HotelPlanner Tour graduate, prevailing in a five-man play-off that featured Rory McIlroy to claim the Omega European Masters title. He has since finished runner-up on seven occasions, three of which came in 2024 when he was unable to capitalise on an eight-shot 54-hole lead to miss out on winning on home soil. There was further heartbreak as he just missed out on PGA Tour dual membership, but a year later he did just enough to hold onto his playing rights. Despite three top tens in 2026, he has work to do to make it nine consecutive seasons on the DP World Tour. However, with just 0.75 ranking points between him and the top 100, simply making the cut in South Korea – something he is yet to do across his last three appearances at this event - is likely to be enough.
Like Law and Söderberg, the Zimbabwe-born American was part of the HotelPlanner Tour Class of 2018 and like the other two has since tasted DP World Tour victory. After finishing runner-up in 2019, 2020 and 2021, his breakthrough came as he held off Pepperell to win at the Hero Open in Scotland a year later. Earlier that same season, he missed nine cuts in a row and he was understandably emotional after claiming his first piece of silverware as a professional at Fairmont St Andrews. Tied second last year in China at the Hainan Classic in an otherwise difficult campaign, this year has proved a struggle too and he arrives in Korea without a top ten to his name but back-to-back top 15s should offer him reason for hope. With 10.70 points required to stand a chance of getting into the top 100, making the cut is at the very least what he will be targeting. A minimum finish of 68th place would give him a chance.
Won the ISPS HANDA – CHAMPIONSHIP in April 2024 in what was just his fifth start on the DP World Tour. It was the second time he claimed the title at the event, having also lifted the trophy at the inaugural edition in 2022 when it was solely sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour. His victory in 2024 earned him exempt status on the DP World Tour through to the end of the 2026 season. He has since struggled to produce consistent performances at the top end of leaderboards, with his solitary top ten this year coming at the Hainan Classic presented by MAEXTRO in March. The 28-year-old needs to finish 28th or better to have a chance of bridging the 47.71-point gap to get inside the top 100.
A global fan favourite, the Thai has claimed four DP World Tour titles but his last one came in 2018. After needing Qualifying School to retain his playing rights in both 2022 and 2023, he will be hoping to avoid it for a third time in the past five seasons. With his 30th start of the 2026 campaign ahead of him, the 37-year-old will hope to have enough fuel left in the tank in his home continent as he looks to rediscover some of the form that saw him produce top-ten finishes during the European Swing in Spain and Germany. With a deficit of 50.18 points to make up at least, he needs to finish solo 26th or better to stand a chance of avoiding a trip to INFINITUM in Spain next month. A proven winner and adept at dealing with pressure situations, nobody would be surprised if he was to deliver when his back is against the wall.
*Of those placed 100-110, John Parry (102) is already exempt for next season, while Nicolai Højgaard (104) and Daniel van Tonder (105) are not playing.
Having brought up his 500th DP World Tour start in January at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, the Englishman is among the most experienced players around. Across his 22-year professional career, he has won five times on golf's Global Tour but his last was in 2014. After just keeping his card as the last man inside the cut-off in 2024, he was outside the top 110 last year and has been playing on a Career Money List exemption this season. After missing four of his opening five cuts, either side of his milestone appearance, he found some form at the Amgen Irish Open and BMW PGA Championship over back-to-back weeks but he has since missed four cuts in a row. This marks his ninth start from the last ten, with the 45-year-old 2010 Ryder Cup winner requiring an eighth-placed finish or better.
One of golf's most charismatic players, the German won four DP World Tour titles between 2004 and 2014. A long break from the winner's circle followed, although he did win the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge on the HotelPlanner Tour in 2021. He would lose his card again in 2022 but won it straight back at the Qualifying School and in 2023 claimed an emotional first DP World Tour win in over eight years at the Hero Indian Open before his sixth career DP World Tour victory came in the following season in Italy. Without a top ten this season, 46-year-old will hope to summon up all his resilience - a characteristic that has been the hallmark of a career that has seen him make almost 600 Tour-level appearances. Having missed the cut on both occasions he has played this tournament, a top-five finish is the minimum he requires to avoid a trip to Qualifying School.
Another of the DP World Tour's old guard, the Spaniard spoke of laying the "ghosts" to rest after ending a run of nine consecutive missed cuts in Italy. While he has since made five of his next ten, there has been no much-needed top 20 or better and he arrives in South Korea needing a runner-up finish to guarantee a 20th consecutive campaign on the DP World Tour. While the ask is a demanding one, he has winning memories to call upon from competing in this country having won this event in 2023. If he can't produce something extraordinary, he will head to Qualifying School where he first earned his DP World Tour card in 2007.
To view the full race to Dubai Rankings click here.
To view a breakdown of Race to Dubai Points, with a total of 5,000 on offer this week, click here.
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