Lots in the balance as Kennedy, Hurley and McElroy take to Q ...
As weeks go, they don’t come much bigger than Final Stage Qualifying at DP World Tour Q-School, and for Max Kennedy, Gary Hurley and Dermot McElroy, their 2025 seasons hang in the balance.
Played over six rounds on Infinitum Golf Club’s two courses – the Lakes Course and the Hills Course – on Spain’s Costa Daurada, 156 players will tee it up in the hope of finishing inside the top 20 and earning themselves DP World Tour cards for next year.
Kennedy has had to take the long route to Infinitum, successfully navigating First Stage Qualifying in Denmark before being the sole Irishman of 11 to make it through Second Stage last week. Hurley and McElroy earned their exemptions to Final Stage by qualifying for the Challenge Tour Grand Final in Mallorca, and though both entered the week with a chance to earn promotion outright, they have a second roll of the dice this week.
And Hurley knows all too well that he’s just six good rounds from potentially life-changing circumstances, as the Waterford man was one of 28 who played their way onto the DP World Tour via this route in 2022.
Two rounds of -2 on the Lakes Course and two rounds of -6 on the Hills Course got him through the 72-hole cut that year, and further rounds of 70 and 69 on the Hills were enough to see him through with two shots to spare.
He’s since experienced crushing lows, but has picked himself up and returned to play some scintillating golf at times on the Challenge Tour this season. As has McElroy, who finished runner-up at the Rosa Challenge in Poland back in late August/early September, having struggled in the early part of the year.
Still an amateur, Kennedy would obviously turn pro were he to make it through this week, and he still has another chance to earn Tour status should he take up an invitation to compete in the LIV Promotions Event in Riyadh next month.
But his focus will be solely on this week’s event, and there have been many instances of Q-School graduates going on to have stellar careers, even becoming major championship winners.
Colin Montgomerie, Sandy Lyle, Justin Rose and Miguel Ángel Jiménez are just a few European greats to make it through ‘golf’s toughest test’ before going on to taste glory on the world stage.
2023 graduates Darius van Driel and David Ravetto both claimed DP World Tour wins last season, with Joe Dean and Alfredo Garcia-Heredia joining them at the DP World Tour Play-Offs in Abu Dhabi.
Darren Fichardt, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Jacques Kruyswijk and Andrew Wilson all also retained their DP World Tour playing privileges from last season’s alumni.
But as you’d expect, the competition level will be high. With its combination of global qualifying events and exemptions from DP World and Challenge Tours, the Final Stage brings together one of the most eclectic fields in golf.
Last year’s winner Freddy Schott agonisingly dropped out of the top 114 on the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex at the regular season finale so he returns to defend his title alongside four-time DP World Tour winner Wu Ashun, the only other player in the field who also fell the wrong side of that line at the Genesis Championship.
Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher tees it up a week after his 50th birthday and is joined by fellow Ryder Cup players Oliver Wilson, Chris Wood and Edoardo Molinari – who is currently serving as a Vice Captain to Luke Donald.
Multiple DP World Tour winners Eddie Pepperell, James Morrison, Renato Paratore, David Horsey, Justin Harding, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño, Marc Warren, George Coetzee, Lee Slattery and Tom Lewis are also in the field along with a host of rising stars.
Jacob Skov Olesen, Luis Masaveu, Bastien Amat and Kennedy were all in the Global Amateur Pathway Rankings last season and are looking to take their next step. Masaveu and Amat have turned professional but Tiger Christensen makes it three amateurs in the field along with Olesen and Kennedy.
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