This week, the Austrian Alpine Open takes place, returning to an early venue, the Gut Altentann Golf Club in Salzburg, where the first three editions of the Austrian Open were held back in the early nineties of the last century.
And if we look at the regular calendar of the DP World Tour, this event marks the midpoint of the season. An excellent stop along the way, therefore, to take stock. To date, 18 tournaments of this regular calendar have been played, and after Austria, 19 will remain, although it should be noted: the last two, the Rolex Series in Abu Dhabi and the final in Dubai, already have a reduced field. Additionally, the opportunities to play for certain players with ‘weaker’ categories will be greatly reduced from autumn onwards.
As is well known, the first realistic and reasonable goal for everyone is to secure playing rights for 2026. In this regard, it should be noted that Ángel Ayora, with his eleventh place last week in Belgium, has virtually achieved this, having already accumulated 492 points (last year, around 430 were needed to maintain playing rights). The young Andalusian, therefore, can and should now focus on more ambitious goals, such as entering the Final in Dubai or even securing a PGA Tour card.
The same could be said for Pablo Larrazábal, with 462 points to his name. As well as Iván Cantero (518) and Jorge Campillo (558). Needless to say, beyond the points accumulated, Eugenio López Chacarra and Álex del Rey have already done their homework with their respective victories in India and Ras Al Khaimah.
At this midpoint of the current season, it should be noted that the two Elvira brothers are meeting the arithmetic deadlines, although they should not relax either. Nacho has already accumulated 375 points and Manu 285. From here, we enter the group of Armada players who still need to step up, and perhaps this week in Austria is an excellent opportunity to make a push in the rankings. To give us an idea: Ángel Hidalgo (with 131 points), Joel Moscatel (164), Rafa Cabrera Bello (122), and even Alfredo García Heredia (94) would resolve this troublesome and first major objective (undoubtedly, the one that causes the most pressure on the players) with a second place in the Austrian Open. Needless to say, anything that involves accumulating a good number of points, such as entering the top ten of the tournament, would also be excellent news. Cabrera Bello has been trying for several tournaments to decisively start the points counter: it would be a nice story if he could do it this week in the country where 16 years ago (2009) he achieved his first victorious record.
Albert Boneta, however, needs something more, as he is entering very few tournaments and has not been able to accumulate much (only 16 points) in the five he has already played.
All the mentioned players are present this week in Salzburg, and Luis Masaveu should be added, as he makes his debut this year in the DP World Tour. In fact, the young Madrilenian is going to play a regular European circuit tournament outside of Spain for the first time (not counting last year’s Open, which he did play at Royal Troon).
