A few short weeks ago Dan Bradbury held fears over whether he would retain his DP World Tour card for next season but his victory at the FedEx Open de France now means he can look forward to competing at the lucrative DP World Tour Play-Offs.
The new two-time DP World Tour winner started the week at Le Golf National in 98th on the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex but has now leapt to 25th, ensuring he extends his season to include the two Middle-East based events in November.
The top 70 on the season-long standings are eligible to qualify for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the first event of the DP World Tour Play-Offs, with the top 50 at the end of the week at Yas Links then advancing to the season finale at the DP World Tour Championship, where the winner of the Harry Vardon Trophy will be crowned.
Another player set to contest both of the Play-Offs is fellow Englishman Sam Bairstow, as the European Challenge Tour graduate continued his excellent rookie season by finishing in a tie for second.
That saw Bairstow climb 23 spots to 32nd, while fellow runner-up Yannik Paul also secured his place at the Play-Offs by jumping from 66th to 37th.
• MORE: DP World Tour Play Offs qualification: All you need to know
Jeff Winther moved himself inside the top 70 – rocketing from 94th to 56th - as he also claimed 332.25 Race to Dubai points by finishing tied second at the 2018 Ryder Cup and 2024 Olympic Games venue.
Sean Crocker and Jeong weon Ko both dropped outside the 70 following the weekend, but with two events on the Back 9 to play there is still much to be decided.
Further back, Fabrizio Zanotti helped his cause to retain his DP World Tour card as he finished 12th to move to 102nd on the Rankings, climbing from the provisional cut off mark of 115th for retention of membership.
Just three spots further back of Zanotti is Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen as he registered his third top 20 finish since gaining automatic promotion from the Challenge Tour.
The Back 9 so far
The Back 9 started with a first-time winner, as Dane Niklas Nørgaard lifted the trophy at the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo to ensure his place in the Play-Offs, with Matt Wallace punching his ticket with victory in a play-off at the Omega European Masters. Rasmus Højgaard then held off the challenge of home hero Rory McIlroy to win the Amgen Irish Open, with McIlroy losing out again the following week in the Rolex Series at the BMW PGA Championship, as Billy Horschel took home the trophy. There was more play-off drama the following week at the acciona Open de España presented by Madrid when Angel Hidalgo took down Jon Rahm in an all-Spanish battle before Tyrrell Hatton prevailed at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. The DP World Tour's late-season run of world-class international golf then continued with Bradbury emerging from a crowded leaderboard to win Continental Europe’s oldest national open.
Who has qualified for the DP World Tour Play-Offs so far?
These players have qualified and been confirmed for the DP World Tour Play-Offs:
- Rory McIlroy
- Robert MacIntyre
- Thriston Lawrence
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Adam Scott
- Justin Rose
- Niklas Nørgaard
- Matt Wallace
- Rasmus Højgaard
- Matteo Manassero
- Angel Hidalgo
- Dan Bradbury
