12 IRISH IN LINE FOR GRUELLING DP WORLD TOUR Q-SCHOOL TEST
Fontanals Golf Club one of the four Spanish venues for the Second Stage of DP World Tour Qualifying School. (Photo: Fontanals Golf Club)
The road to securing playing rights on the DP World Tour for the 2027 season continues next week as players from around the world and 12 players from Ireland compete across the four Spanish venues that makes up the Second Stage of Qualifying School.
After 182 players secured their progress from 10 First Stage events across Europe in August and September, four 72-hole events will be held in Spain from October 29 to November 1.
With the DP World Tour season reaching its final regular event this week in South Korea at the Genesis Championship, some of those in line to tee it up are players facing a last-ditch attempt to avoid a trip to Q-School.
Among others set for action are those who competed on the HotelPlanner Tour and missed out on qualifying for the season-ending Grand Final, held in Mallorca, over the same dates.
Here, we take a look at some of the names from each venue who face overcoming the second hurdle in the quest to secure Category 18 status on the 2027 Race to Dubai.
Fontanals Golf Club
Shubhankar Sharma won twice as a DP World Tour rookie in 2018, but he is set to need to come through two stages of Qualifying School for the second-year running.
Veteran Robert Rock, who focuses on coaching since announcing an end to full-time competitive golf in 2022, returns to have a tilt at Q-School.
Paraguay's Fabrizio Zanotti, who has won twice on the DP World Tour and made 431 starts, is joined by among others South African pair Wilco Nienaber, widely regarded as one of the longest hitters in world golf, and George Coetzee.
Sam Locke, who came to prominence by winning the Silver Medal at The Open in 2018, will hope to earn DP World Tour playing rights for the first time.
Ireland’s Gary Hurley and Robert Moran will tee it up at Fontanals Golf Club after Hurley finished 60th on the Hotelplanner Tour and Moran eighth on the Alps Tour.
Golf Las Pinaillas
Renato Paratore won three times last season on the HotelPlanner Tour to earn promotion back to the DP World Tour, but needs a big week in Korea to avoid teeing it up at Second Stage.
The Italian is joined by fellow DP World Tour winner Yannik Paul as the most recognised names in the field at Fontanals.
Michael Stewart made headlines earlier this month at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, finishing tied fourth on home soil.
Second on the Tartan Pro Tour's Order of Merit this year, he will hope to improve on the HotelPlanner Category 7 and Category 20 status on the DP World Tour he has assured via the Non-Member Race to Dubai Points List.
Seven-time DP World Tour winner Alvaro Quiros is also among those in action in his homeland along with Luis Masaveu, while Taylor Funk - son of PGA Tour winner Fred - is also set to feature.
A quartet of Irish players; Mark Power, John Ross Galbraith, Niall Kearney and Thomas Higgins will get their capmaigns under way at Golf Las Pinallas.
Desert Springs Resort
Matthew Baldwin hit the opening tee shot at his home club of Royal Birkdale at this year's Open Championship and he is among those needing to go back to Qualifying School.
He is joined by among others fellow Englishman Jack Yule, who came through two stages last year, and France's five-time DP World Tour winner Alexander Levy.
Andres Romero, 45, and 46-year-old Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño both boast a wealth of experience, while Kristoffer Broberg is another DP World Tour winner.
Paul McBride and Alex Maguire carry the Irish flag with McBride coming through a successful Clutch Pro Tour campaign and also won the season-ending event.
Isla Canela Links
Lucas Bjerregaard took down Tiger Woods at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in 2019, having won DP World Tour titles in the previous two seasons.
The experienced Dane is arguably the most recognised name, along with Adri Arnaus who is hoping to secure DP World Tour Category 18 status for the second year running via Qualifying School.
Maximilian Kieffer of Germany, another past DP World Tour winner, France's Jeong won Ko and Spain's Rocco Repetto Taylor are also in line to tee up at Isla Canela Links.
Conor Purcell, Max Kennedy, Ronan Mullarney and Dermot McElroy will all tee it up at Isla Canela Links in their bid to move to the net stage and keep hopes of a DP World Tour ticket alive.