Simon Forsström secured a two-stroke victory at the Final Stage of Qualifying School to become one of 28 players to earn their DP World Tour cards at INFINITUM in Spain.

The Swede posted a closing 69 to finish on 29 under par, two shots ahead of Frenchman David Ravetto, who carded a 64 to climb into second place. Forsström was delighted to come out on top at the marathon six-round Final Stage event and admits earning top tier privileges means everything to him.

“It feels amazing,” he said. “Today was tough because it has been such a long week and the nerves started to kick in, especially when the wind picked up. I have been hitting it so well all week and now I need to take my game to the next level on the DP World Tour. This win is so important for my career.”

Englishman Daniel Brown finished third on 26 under par, while four-time DP World Tour winner Kiradech Aphibarnrat was a shot further back in fourth. Aphibarnrat was pleased to reclaim his top tier playing privileges after producing a grandstand finish in Tarragona and he is now targeting a climb up the world rankings and more victories on Europe’s top tier tour.

“I’m exhausted right now,” the Thai player said. “I feel like I’ve been playing for two weeks straight to earn this card. There are so many talented players ready to shine on the DP World Tour and I think six rounds at Qualifying School provides the perfect test to distinguish who is ready to compete with the best players. Now I have secured my card I am looking to get my fifth DP World Tour title. My goal is to get back into the top 50 in the world again and eventually get to double figures with wins. I only need six more!”

There were storylines aplenty on the final day in Tarragona, as Denmark’s Christoffer Bring, Englishman Sam Hutsby, American Gunner Wiebe and Swede Tobias Edén each completed all three stages of Qualifying School to earn their cards. Marcel Siem and David Horsey secured their return to the top tier, while Spaniard Alejandro Del Rey posted a sensational closing 63 to claim his our card after narrowly missing out at the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final just over a week ago.

Spain’s Mike Lorenzo-Vera also reclaimed his card, while Irishman John Murphy birdied two of the last three holes in his final round 65 to jump into the all-important top 25 in dramatic fashion.

The three unlucky players to miss out by just one shot were Italy’s Renate Paratore, Welshman Oliver Farr and Denmark’s Nicolai Kristensen. Paratore eagled the par-5th 18th to finished tied 29th.  The final leaderboard can be found here.

Final Stage Qualifiers
Simon Forsström, David Ravetto, Daniel Brown, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Alejandro Del Rey, Nick Bachem, Pedro Figueiredo, Christoffer Bring, John Axelsen, Ryo Hisatsune, Tobias Edén, Joël Stalter, Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Marcel Siem, Joshua Lee, Gary Hurley, Gunner Wiebe, Sam Hutsby, Gary Stal, Gudmundur Kristjansson, David Horsey, Jens Fahrbring, Niklas Lemke, Andrew Wilson, Ricardo Santos, Garrick Porteous, John Murphy and Adrien Saddier.

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Fifty members of LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed tour which launched in June, have jointly issued a signed statement requesting that LIV Golf tournaments earn points towards the Official World Golf Ranking.

As things currently stand, LIV Golf tournaments do not qualify for ranking points, meaning that players who have only taken part in LIV Golf events since its launch are slipping down the world rankings, leaving some in danger of missing out on qualifying for the Majors and the Olympics.

The OWGR, which was first established in 1986, ranks players based on their position in individual tournaments over a rolling two-year period, taking into account the strength of the field. New rankings are calculated each week. In 2022, the results from 23 global tours factored into the world rankings, but have not included those from the LIV Golf Invitational Series, which has so far held five events – one in the UK and four in the USA, with three more due to take place this year, and 14 tournaments planned for next season.

The governing board of the OWGR is headed by chairman Peter Dawson, the former chief executive of the R&A, and has its headquarters at the European Tour Group’s offices at Wentworth Club in Surrey. There are seven other directors, including representatives from the PGA of America, the International Federation of PGA Tours, the USGA, the PGA Tour, Augusta National, the R&A and the DP World Tour.

In a letter addressed to Mr Dawson, the 50 signatories, including world no.2 Cameron Smith and two-time Major winner Dustin Johnson, who has slipped down from 13th to 22nd in the world ranking since moving to LIV Golf, have demanded that the results of LIV Golf events be included in OWGR’s ranking calculations on a retrospective basis.

The letter insists that to leave LIV Golf results out of the OWGR would be the equivalent to ‘leaving Belgium, Argentina and England out of the FIFA rankings’.

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