A total of 33 players earned playing rights on next season’s DP World Tour following the conclusion of the Final Stage of Qualifying School at INFINITUM in Spain.
Germany’s Freddy Schott eagled the final hole of the six-round tournament to win by two shots, with a final round 65 taking the 22-year-old’s overall total for the week to an impressive 27-under par. Having finished 144th in the DP World Tour’s season-long Race to Dubai, Schott was delighted to bounce straight back to the tour.
“I’m unbelievably happy,” he said. “I knew it was going to come down to the final few holes. I had a chip-in on 14, made a good birdie on 16 and then the eagle putt dropping on 18 just made it a really good week. I wasn’t really thinking about winning it but then after three or four days, I thought I might as well go for it and so I did.
“I couldn’t have imagined that after last year I wouldn’t be back on the DP World Tour. I’ve made some great friendships there this year and it’s just amazing to play on the DP World Tour. That was my only goal this week.”
Schott finished two shots ahead of Italian Filippo Celli, with Belgian Matthis Besard firing a closing 65 to finish in third place on 23 under par alongside fifth round leader Sebastian Friedrichsen from Denmark and Dutchman Darius van Driel.
Two-time DP World Tour winner Tom Lewis will also return to Europe’s top tier tour next season after turning his week around with a ten-under-par 61 on day four. Rounds of 67 and 65 followed for the Englishman, and he was delighted to come through a nervy week in Tarragona.
“This means a lot to me,” he said. “I’ve had some up and down moments in my career, and hopefully this can start a new path for me and I can keep building from here. To have played as well as I did on the front nine today with four birdies in a row that just settled the nerves on the back nine for me. I’ve been in these positions before and got excited and took my foot off the pedal and hopefully I can learn from that and keep moving forward and take the opportunities when I get them.”
There were storylines aplenty on the final day in Spain as New Zealand’s Sam Jones, Belgian Besard, English amateur Josh Berry, Danish duo Jonathan Gøth-Rasmussen and Søren Broholt Lind, England’s Joe Dean and American James Nicholas each completed all three stages of Qualifying School to earn their DP World Tour cards.
Five-time DP World Tour winner Darren Fichardt secured his return to the top tier, as did four-time DP World Tour winner Kiradech Aphibarnrat after carding an exceptional 64 on the final day. Two-time DP World Tour winners Renato Paratore and Kristoffer Broberg also secured their card.
Spaniard Sebastian Garcia began the day in 24th position but produced a bogey-free 62 to finish the week in eighth, and Englishman Garrick Porteous eagled the last the secure his card in dramatic fashion.
The final leaderboard can be found here, with the top 25 and ties receiving DP World Tour cards.