From DP World Tour
Zander Lombard closed out a dominant performance on Wednesday to win the Final Stage of DP World Tour Qualifying School as 20 players earned DP World Tour playing privileges for next season.
The South African, solo leader since the fourth round at Infinitum, signed for an eight-under-par 63 to go with rounds of 64-69-67-64-64 and reach 37-under-par for the week.
Shubhankar Sharma of India, Canada’s Aaron Cockerill and Australia’s Connor McKinney finished in a tie for second, 13 shots further back in Spain.
Lombard lost his DP World Tour card last month after a delayed start to his campaign following seven months on the sidelines due to an anterior cruciate ligament rupture and medial meniscus tear sustained playing padel last year.
It is the second time he has secured his status on the DP World Tour through Qualifying School, having come second to Alejandro Cañizares at Final Stage in 2018.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet, but it is what I came here to do,” he said. “So, unreal. It’s hopefully the springboard for what the season has in store.
“It was a great week. A tough week, a long marathon… It was easy to just sit back and relax and start making a few errors, but my caddie and I were having fun, and we stayed focused the whole week and that produced the score we have on the board.
“It’s been a tough year and a half. From knee surgery, learning how to walk again, to trying to find my game the last six months and then really starting to enjoy the game again the last two. It’s been trending and hopefully I can keep this form for the year to come.”
Daniel Rodrigues of Portugal, ranked 2,449 in the Official World Golf Ranking, carded a closing 68 to finish in a tie for fifth on 22-under, alongside England’s Nathan Kimsey.
Joining Rodrigues in coming through all three stages to earn their DP World Tour cards were Frenchman Quentin Debove, Argentina’s Andres German Gallegos, Brazil’s Frederico Biondi Figueiredo, American Hunter Logan and Mike Toorop of the Netherlands.
England’s Eddie Pepperell made birdies on the final four holes to earn his playing rights for the 2026 season in dramatic fashion, with countryman and fellow DP World Tour winner Matt Baldwin finishing birdie-eagle to earn a swift return to the tour.
“I’m pretty proud of myself actually,” said Pepperell. “That was a tough day [with] a great finish.
“I didn’t have too many goals coming into these two weeks. I was just looking forward to playing some golf to be quite honest and hoping that I would play well.
“This week felt like a bit of a struggle at times and never more so than today midway through the round, but I really hung in there. I am delighted.”
Adri Arnaus, another former winner on tour, made birdies at three of his final four holes to earn his card, while Norway’s Andreas Halvorsen and Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana were able to celebrate success at the six-round event.
American Davis Bryant, Zimbabwe’s Benjamin Follett-Smith and Gregorio De Leo of Italy came through Final Stage for the second year running.
France’s Alexander Levy and Scotland’s Marc Warren, who have nine DP World Tour titles between them, were among five players to miss out finishing in the top 20 and ties by just one shot.
Also missing out – by four – was South Africa’s Robin Williams, who closed with a level-par 71 to finish on 14-under.
