– The DP World Tour School Final kicks off this Friday, 7 November, at the two courses of Infinitum Golf (Tarragona), where 156 players will compete for one of the top 25 spots and ties at the end of the mandatory six rounds of competition (ending on Wednesday 12, with the top sixty and ties making the cut after the fourth round), which grant playing rights on the European circuit for the 2025-2026 season.
– To begin with, a peculiarity. The appearance and conditions of the Lakes course, the main venue where four of the six rounds are played, including the decisive fifth and sixth, are magnificent. However, at the Hills course, an interesting renovation of the back nine holes has been carried out this year, but the greens have not reached the event in the best condition. In general, slower greens will be played at the Hills, as the front nine have been slowed down to reduce the difference with the back nine, which are softer and more irregular.
– We have twenty American players in this Final. The stars and stripes landing seems to be here to stay, as twenty also competed in the 2024 Final, the highest number in the history of the School (thirteen played in 2023 and eleven in 2022). This list of twenty also includes many young players making their way in the professional world. Up to nine of them are 25 years old or younger, with Collin Adams, 22, being the youngest, and an experienced finalist like Chase Hanna, 31, the oldest.
– When Gonzalo Fernández Castaño, present this week, played a School Final for the first time back in 2004, there were only two Americans. It was worse in 2007, when there wasn’t a single American participant. And in 2017, the first time this tournament was played on the two Tarragona courses, only two Americans competed.
– Gonzalo has fond memories of that Final, playing the sixth and final round alongside Francesco Molinari, who had his brother Edoardo as caddie… Both secured their European circuit card without problems, although Francesco had recorded a dismal 79 strokes on the first day at San Roque and then had to work hard.
– Some other curiosities. In 2011, we had six American players in the School Final, and a certain Patrick Reed missed the cut after the fourth round. The following year, in 2012, there were seven Americans at the event, and a certain Brooks Koepka also missed the cut after the fourth day…
– England, with 26 players, is the best-represented country, the only one ahead of the United States. Spain is the third power in terms of the number of players, with twelve, ahead of France (11) or Sweden (9). These are the twelve Spaniards: Gonzalo Fernández Castaño, Alfredo García Heredia, Adri Arnaus, Santi Tarrio, Albert Boneta, Luis Masaveu, Javier Calles, Javier Barcos, Víctor Pastor, Scott Fernández, Joseba Torres, and Pablo Ereño.
– Englishman Frank Kennedy is the youngest participant, at twenty years old. He is followed by Frenchman Maxence Giboudot, Spaniard Pablo Ereño, and German Carl Siemens, all aged 21. On the opposite side, we have four players in this Final born in 1980, all of whom are already 45, making them the oldest in the tournament: Gonzalo Fernández Castaño, Oliver Wilson, Julien Quesne, and Justin Walters.
