Brandon Stone regained his DP World Tour card at the first opportunity after finding form on the Challenge Tour in 2023.
The South African is a three-time winner on the DP World Tour, and will have the chance to add to that number following a 19th place finish on the season-long Road to Mallorca Rankings.
Stone lost his DP World Tour playing privileges in 2022 and returned to the Challenge Tour last season in an attempt to rekindle the kind of form that saw him amass three wins on golf’s Global Tour from 2016 to 2018, including the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open.
“At the end of last year I was playing terrible golf, there was no two ways about it,” he said. “In October when we were in Mallorca, which was my final event of the season, I was playing utter garbage.
“There were Q-School finals that I could've gone to, but I just knew I wouldn't get my card back so I said to my coach that it wouldn't be worth it. I went back to South Africa instead and really grinded and worked hard. I broke down my game from foundation to roof and got something going again.
“I played in all of the co-sanctioned events with the Sunshine Tour on the DP World Tour at the end of last year where I was just re-working my golf swing, getting back some confidence and getting back some control over my golf ball again.”
Stone’s hard work during the off-season paid off as he began the Road to Mallorca season in the perfect way by recording back-to-back top ten finishes in his native South Africa at the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open and Dimension Data Pro-Am.
The 30-year-old would go on to spend the whole year inside the top 20 on the Rankings, registering six top ten finishes in the process including a season-best second place in the B-NL Challenge Trophy in May.
“Looking back now, from where I was a year ago, the golf is unrecognisable,” he added. “It's been a long year and it's been a hard year but at the same time I've played some better golf which is what I set out to do in January.
“I'm very happy with myself and very proud of myself which isn't something you hear too often from me. I'm proud of how I've conducted myself, I've stuck to my processes and I've worked hard and been passionate. I've loved being out here again.
“When I got promoted in 2015 I didn't think I'd have to do it again but in saying that, the difference between the Challenge Tour in 2015 and now in 2023 is night and day. It's honestly a fantastic footstep to get to the DP World Tour.
“I can see why there's so many guys on the DP World Tour coming from the Challenge Tour because this tour is building some great players.”
Stone made a disappointing start to his 2024 DP World Tour campaign, missing both cuts on home soil in the Joburg Open and Investec South African Open Championship, but will hope to kick-start his season at this week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship, an event he won in 2016.
