Filippo Celli (-15) secured a spot in the DP World Tour next season this Sunday in the Netherlands. The Italian golfer won the The Dutch Futures with a great final round of 65 strokes and, above all, a spectacular weekend with a combined score of fifteen under par on Saturday and Sunday. He achieved all this in 36 holes. With this victory, the Italian player has already secured promotion to the DP World Tour through the HotelPlanner Tour. It only remains to see in which position he will finish the season, but he has guaranteed a place among the top 20 who earn the first division card.
In fact, Celli has crafted his promotion in the last 50 days. Specifically, since the Interwetten Open. In six tournaments, he has achieved one victory (today’s), a second place (in the aforementioned Interwetten), a fourth, and a fifth. He catapults to the DP World Tour. The reality is that his promotion should not come as a surprise to almost anyone. He is a player who has been anticipated for some time. He has a lot of quality, performed very well as an amateur, and has already obtained the DP World Tour card. He earned it through the school in December 2023, although he did not manage to retain it last year.
He has already played 96 tournaments between the DP World Tour and the HotelPlanner Tour, a more than interesting figure considering he is only 24 years old. We will see what he is capable of in this final stretch of the season with the peace of mind of knowing that he already has the main circuit rights secured and that his category will be better than last year’s.
Celli closed his victory in a masterful way. At the crucial moment, in the final holes, when tournaments are decided, he was sublime. He made three birdies in the last four holes, overcoming the small slump he had with two bogeys on holes 10 and 14, which had brought many players into contention. He complicated his own life but managed to get out of the predicament with class and a lot of quality.
Celli won with a two-stroke advantage over Hurly Long (-13), another who already knows what it means to be in the DP World Tour, and five over Daniel Young (-10) and Oihan Guillamondeguy (-10), two others who have practically secured their promotion to the DP World Tour when the season ends.
For the Spaniards, it was not the best Sunday in the world. Borja Virto (-5) was the best classified, 23rd place after delivering a card of 70 strokes, with three birdies and a solitary bogey. It was an interesting week for the Navarrese. He managed to minimize errors significantly, but he lacked birdies to get into the top part of the leaderboard and aspire to victory. With this result, he is placed 74th in the Road to Mallorca. He remains somewhat far from the circuit final contested by the top 45. For now, he is provisionally entering the China tournaments, the first goal for all those below the 70th ranking position.
One step behind Virto finished Santi Tarrio (-4), with a final round also of 70 strokes. The Galician loses one position in the Road to Mallorca and is placed 29th. The Mallorca final is quite secured, but he needs to give a couple more pushes in this final stretch of the season to place himself among the top 20, the main goal. Lastly, a bad Sunday and a bad weekend for Lucas Vacarisas (+7), with a card of 75 strokes. He is also currently in the fight to enter the top 45.
