– A total of nine tournaments make up the first phase of the DP World Tour School. Three are held in England and one in Italy, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Denmark and France. The top-ranked players from these tournaments qualify for the second phase, which is played in four tournaments, all in Spain, the last week of October: Desert Springs Resort, Isla Canela Links, Golf Las Pinaíllas and Fontanals Golf Club. Two were played last week, two more this week and there will be five more to be held until the end of September.
– A total of 839 players are registered, from the 69 who are playing this week in Huddersfield, England, to the 108 who are signed up in Sweden and Austria. The number of qualifiers is set according to the number of participants.
– A total of 39 Spaniards are playing for a card in the Challenge Tour or the DP World Tour, a good job for next year. Five competed in Italy last week and only Mario Galiano made it through. Two fell in last week’s England tournament. This week two more Spaniards are competing in Belgium, Millennium Golf, Víctor García Broto, who has started very well with -5, and Álvaro Hernández Cabezuela, who has started with -3.
– The other 30 Spanish participants are: Toño Hortal, Borja Martín, Ignacio Gómez Osuna, Luis Carlos González, Álvaro Velasco, David Borda, Carlos Pigem, Alex Esmatges, Pep Anglés, Haiko Dana, Álvaro Veiga, Alfonso Buendía, Víctor Jiménez Bravo, Hugo Espósito, Daniel García, Pablo Alperi, Alejandro Aguilera, Rocco Repetto Taylor, Alberto Domínguez, Javier Barcos, José Luis Adarraga, Emilio Cuartero, Manuel Ballesteros, Manu Morugán, Juan Salama, Albert Boneta, Carlos del Moral, Rubén Lafuente, Antonio Vázquez, Juan Ramón Amador, Joseba Torres and José Antonio Sintes.
– Among the Spaniards, some names stand out such as Joseba Torres, nephew of Olazábal, Víctor Jiménez, son of Miguel Ángel, Sintes, champion this year in the Alps Tour, amateurs who are already looking to turn professional like Alperi, Barcos, Repetto or Boneta, as well as veterans like Del Moral, Velasco or Adarraga.
– Once again, the huge participation of golfers from the United States stands out. A total of 206 players have registered. It’s the empire of golf.
– The presence of Latin American golfers is also striking. There are a total of 35 players from countries such as Argentina, the most significant presence with 18, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Dominican Republic. Costa Rica, Guatemala, Venezuela or Brazil.
– Similarly, in terms of exotic countries, we must highlight Uganda, which has two, heirs of Rumugayo, the golfer who debuted this year in the DP World Tour, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Russia, Hungary, Bermuda, Trinidad and Tobago, Isle of Man, Saudi Arabia or Luxembourg.
– On the other hand, the scarce presence of golfers from the Far East is surprising: just two Japanese, three Chinese and three Koreans. They seem few. These golfers prefer to risk reaching the European Circuit through their respective Tours.
– There are winners of the DP World Tour like Lorenzo Gagli or classics like Pelle Edberg or Robert Dinwiddie.
– Like father, like son. There are the sons of Fred Funk, the American Taylor Funk, or Sam, the son of Westwood.
– The participation of Kyle Stanley, double winner of the PGA Tour in 2012 and 2017, is striking. He is 36 years old.
– Massive presence of Latin America Amateur Championship winners like Mateo Fernández de Oliveira, Abel Gallegos or Paul Chaplet, as well as recent British Amateur champions like Scott Gregory, Bradley Neil or James Sugrue.
– Among the young people is Tiger Christensen, a German golfer trained in the United States who is among the top 50 in the world. He passed the first phase in Italy last week along with Mario Galiano. Also participating is Kris Kim, a 16-year-old player who became the youngest this year to make the cut in the PGA Tour. He played the British Masters last week.
– Another curious name is Roberto Lebrija, a Mexican golfer contemporary of Jon Rahm during his university stage. He was one of the participants in the famous Rahm and Mickelson matches when the Barrika player was still an amateur. He is featured in the book Jon Rahm, marked by the gods.
