After enduring what has been a slightly frustrating season on the DP World Tour, Dan Bradbury signs off the year with a strong finish in South Africa to provide a springboard for better things to come in 2026
When you spend your life travelling from one country to the next with nothing but a golf bag, a suitcase, and your swing to rely on, you learn not to get too high with the highs or too low with the lows.
Still, since the DP World Tour season finally wrapped up – for me at least – towards the end of October – I’ve had some time to sit back and reflect on the last 12 months.
On paper, 2025 doesn’t look like much to write home about. I finished 84th in the Race to Dubai – down from 30th last year – and missed out on the last two big Play-Off events in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
I made 12 cuts from 26 starts and didn’t add to my tally of wins.
It sounds like a cliché, but the numbers don’t tell the whole story. What they don’t show are the putts that grazed the lip, the approaches that finished a yard too far left, or the days when the confidence just wasn’t quite there.
They also don’t show the simple truth that my game this year wasn’t drastically different to the year before – when everyone told me how brilliant I’d been playing. But that’s golf. A game of inches and of having days, even moments, where odd bounce goes your way.
DRILLING DOWN THE STATS
I recently sat down with my stats team and went line by line through two years’ worth of numbers. Looking at the raw data – strokes gained, approaches, putts, driving accuracy, driving distance – it was almost uncanny how similar 2024 and 2025 really were.
If anything, I was slightly better off the tee this season. But the Race to Dubai ranking told a totally different story.
It reminded me of how, at the end of 2024, I didn’t feel like I’d played well enough to deserve the lofty position I ended up with.
Dan and girlfriend at Wentworth (pic Dan Bradbury)
This year, the opposite happened – I felt like I’d played better than the rankings suggested. And the difference, annoyingly but inevitably, came down to tiny margins, mainly on the greens.
I missed seven cuts in an 11-event stretch from March to August. Of those seven, I missed five by a single shot. One shot! If I’d found that shot in each of those events – one less three- putt, one more up-and-down, one straighter tee shot – I’d have made nine cuts out of 11.
Suddenly my season would have looked completely different. A few good weekends, maybe a better reshuffle position, and perhaps we’re talking about a top-60 finish rather than 84th.
When you can pinpoint those moments so clearly, it doesn’t feel like a bad season at all. It feels like an almost good one that ran simply out of road.
Despite the frustration, I finished the year well. From the British Masters at the end of August onwards, something clicked.
My mindset was more positive, my ball-striking firmer, and the confidence returned. I had a good week at the BMW PGA Championship and finished under par in seven of my last eight rounds of the season.
In another world, the season extends by two or three more events and maybe my name’s a little higher on that final ranking list.
Dan Bradbury has put some new equipment in the bag (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
NEW SEASON, NEW HOPE
With last season fading fast into the background, I’m already focusing on the next one, and as I write this, I’m already packing my bags in preparation for a couple of weeks in South Africa, first playing the Nedbank Challenge in Sun City and then it’s on to Johannesburg for the Alfred Dunhill Championship.
The Nedbank has a limited field, with guaranteed points and guaranteed money, so it’s a brilliant way to start the new campaign.
I finished fifth there in 2023, and also won the JoBurg Open that same year, so I have had some good results in South Africa, but I’ve also had some stinkers, so I can’t say that my game is especially suited to playing in this part of the world.
The Alfred Dunhill is being played at Royal Johannesburg this year, a course I’ve not played before, so that comes with its own challenges, most notably judging distances.
Johannesburg is around 6,000 feet above seas level, so the ball travels roughly 10–12% further, depending on conditions, which makes it tricky to completely trust your yardages.
The South Africans are brilliant at managing that. They grow up with it. For the rest of us,it takes a few practice rounds to recalibrate.
One bad misjudgement can mean the difference between a tight birdie chance and a bogey save. But I genuinely look forward to it every year. Even if it sometimes beats me up.
After those two events I’ll be flying home for Christmas to spend time with my girlfriend and our families.
The Tour goes to Mauritius after that, but I’m skipping it – if I played, I’d get home around the December 22 or 23, which is cutting it a bit fine to get into the Christmas spirit.
NO PAIN, NO GAIN
Thanks to somewhat early end to the season, I’ve spent the last couple of weeks getting a bit of golf in with my mates at Alwoodley Golf Club.
Despite the recent cold snap, the greens are still rolling beautifully for the winter. When the weather turns bad — which it has of late – I disappear into the indoor studio.
The club has been brilliant about giving me access when the pros aren’t teaching, and last week I was in there almost every day. I even had a Hole-in-One there a few weeks ago.
Enjoying his ace at Alwoodley (pic Dan Bradbury)
The other side of my prep has been gym work. Not so much chasing more speed — my driver speed is already around 117–118mph, which is plenty fast — but building stability so I can swing at full tilt with confidence.
I’ve been a little too reliant on my ‘fairway finder’ this season, which is basically just a smooth driver, 3-4 mph slower than my normal swing, which goes 10 yards shorter, but is generally a bit safer. Useful, but not something you want to overuse.
Equipment-wise I don’t have any major changes to report, although I have put some new Ping 259 wedges into the bag and have replaced my old set of Ping Blueprint irons with a new set – same model, just freshened up.
SCHEDULE SHIFT
Looking into the new year, the one thing I’m changing is my early-season schedule. I had too much time off at the start of this year, combined with a few poor finishes in the Middle East and South Africa.
By the time the tour swung back to Europe, I was behind the pace. Next year I’m playing everything in January, February and March and will be looking to get points on the board early, take control of the season, and avoid the feeling of chasing that I’ve had this year.
I know my game is good enough. I proved that in the second half of this season. I just need some early momentum.
All in all, I’m excited about what lies ahead and am feeling positive that some good results are around the corner. I know what went wrong this season, and more importantly, I know what didn’t.
My game didn’t abandon me. I didn’t regress. I didn’t lose speed, or accuracy, or touch. I simply didn’t get the breaks — not early enough, not often enough.
Give me a few early cuts, a couple of good weekends, and hopefully one week where everything clicks, and suddenly the picture looks very different.
I’m ready to prove that this season wasn’t a step backwards – it was just the pause before the next push forward.
DAN’S END-OF-SEASON STATS FOR 2025
World ranking: 236
Events played: 26
Cuts made: 12
Wins: 0
Best finish: 3 (Italian Open) Average finishing position: 68
Top 10s: 2
Top 25s: 4
Stroke average: 71.12
Prize money: €478,306
Driving accuracy: 62.07% (33rd)
Driving distance: 296.9 Yards (96th)
Greens in regulation: 70.9% (22nd)
Putts per gir: 1.81 (147th)
Average putts per round: 30.10 (162nd)
Sand saves: 61.25% (29th)
Stroke average: 71.12 (86th)
DAN BRADBURY FACT FILE
Age: 25 Lives: Wakefield, Yorkshire Turned Pro: 2022
World Ranking: 221
Race to Dubai Ranking: 86 (2024)
DP World Tour Starts: 79 Wins: 2 (‘22 JoBurg Open, ‘24 Open de France)
Top 10s: 8 Cuts Made: 41 Prize Money: €2.21m
DAN’S EQUIPMENT SET UP
Driver: Ping G440 LST (9°)
Fairway Woods: 3 Ping G440 (14°) 5 G440
Utility Iron: Ping iCrossover (3)
Irons: Ping Blueprint S (4-PW)
Wedges: Ping S259 (50°, 56°, 60°)
Putter: Ping PLD Custom Oslo XL
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Apparel: Ping
Shoes: Nike
DAN’S SPONSORS
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