Daniel O'Loughlin is hoping to achieve his lifelong goal of securing a DP World Tour card when he tees it up at the Final Stage of Qualifying School at INFINITUM.
The Englishman progressed through both First Stage and Second Stage after impressive performances at Champneys Mottram Hall and Isla Canela Links respectively and he is now looking to turn a dream into reality at the finale of the three-stage event, with the top 25 and ties earning DP World Tour playing privileges for 2023.
“I was really happy after First Stage at Mottram Hall in England,” he said. “It was early October, and it was a bit of a washout because there were rain delays every day. One of my rounds got cancelled so I was really pleased that week to stay in it and then progressing onto Stage Two.
“I had a really good week last week. Scoring was just crazy at Isla Canela, so I was really pleased with how I played. Third round I shot nine under which pushed me right to the top of the leaderboard and from there it was just a solid final round and I got through.”
The University of Colorado graduate admits it would be life-changing to earn promotion to the DP World Tour at this stage of his career, however he is determined to focus on the present in Tarragona.
“Everyone here wants the same goal, just do as well as you can and get your DP World Tour card,” he said. “To be honest, I’m very much looking at one round at a time and one shot at a time. If I can just keep playing well and keep hitting shots I want to do, the rest will take care of itself.
“It would be massive to get my card. Obviously as of now, I’m going to be playing in the same stuff as last season so if I was to get a DP World Tour card it would just life-changing to be honest. Just having those opportunities would help me get so much better as a player as well. It would be so valuable.”
The Final Stage of Qualifying School will consist of six rounds with each player playing two rounds at the Lakes Course and the Hills Course at INFINITUM, before the top 70 and ties play the final two rounds at the Lakes Course.
O'Loughlin will be joined in Spain this week by four-time DP World Tour winners Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Stephen Gallacher, as well as Japan’s Takumi Kanaya, who was ranked Number One in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for 55 weeks.
There are storylines aplenty at Final Stage, with a plethora of DP World Tour winners such as Gonzalo Fdez-Castano, Marcel Siem and Tom Lewis, former Ryder Cup players Gallacher and David Howell and England’s Oliver Fisher – the only man in DP World Tour history to card a round of 59 – aiming to reclaim their playing privileges.
As well as seasoned professionals, young hopefuls are also aiming to seize playing privileges for 2023. Spain’s Alejandro del Rey, who went one better than Fisher in carding a round of 58 on the Challenge Tour last season, will be aiming for a spot in the top 25, as will England’s Sam Bairstow, who reached the final of the Amateur Championship earlier this year.
The first round will get under way at 9:05am local time on Friday November 11, with O’Loughlin playing alongside Scotland’s Michael Stewart and American Evan Katz at 10:35am on the Lakes Course.
