For most of the golf season there is one winner to talk about at the end of every golf tournament.
True, there are also 155 losers but we don’t tend to see it that way.
But when the campaign thunders towards its finale everything becomes a little more frenetic.
This week’s Genesis Championship in Korea is the last tournament of the regular schedule and, as such, it provides the very last opportunity for players to manoeuvre themselves into position for one of two things.
The first is a place in the top 115 places in the Race to Dubai rankings – that guarantees them playing rights for 2026.
The second is a spot in the top 70 in the same rankings – that allows them to tee it up in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship which is the first event of the season’s Playoffs.
After the conclusion of that tournament the top 50 in the rankings will progress to the DP World Tour Championship.
Who is on the brink? Let’s take a look.
Eddie Pepperell struggling
The start of the Englishman’s 2025 season was a bit mad and it hasn’t really changed ever since.
The two-time winner on the DP World Tour opened with a round of 81 in the Alfred Dunhill Championship before rebounding with a 69 that was not quite good enough to make the cut. A week later he led the Mauritius Open through 54 holes before a closing 74 left him ninth.
Promising stuff but, although he’s added four further top 10s, only one of them was on the first tier – the other three were on the second tier (where he also led one event after 54 holes but injury forced him to withdraw).
All in all he is 165th in the rankings and isn’t playing in Korea: he’s set for Qualifying School in Spain or a full year on the HotelPlanner Tour, formerly the Challenge Tour (or a year spent bouncing between the two circuits). More uncertainty, then, in a year all too full of it.
Shane Lowry’s lifeline
It seems mad but the Irishman – who was a star of the Ryder Cup, briefly contended in the Masters and was tied third in the DP World India Championship in October – is languishing in 107th place in the Race to Dubai rankings.
As he is not playing in the Genesis Championship you would think his hopes of making the Playoffs are over and done with.
But he has an unexpected lifeline and it comes in the shape of his Ryder Cup appearance because the rules state that Europe’s representatives can play the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and DP World Tour Championship. That also helps out Sepp Straka (148th) and Ludvig Aberg (75th) if they want some winter sun and the chance to make big money.
Here’s a rider, however: the DP World Tour have confirmed to Golf365 that players in this category will not earn any further Race to Dubai points for the 2025 season.
Min Woo Lee done and dusted
The Aussie is perhaps unlikely to care now that he is a PGA Tour winner (he landed the Houston Open in the spring) but he won’t be going to the Playoffs because he currently only ranks 102nd on the Race to Dubai and isn’t playing in Korea.
The three-time winner on the DP World Tour is 4-for-4 at finishing top 25 in the DP World Tour Championship so he’ll be missing out on all the big prize money available.
But with his playing rights in America tucked up for a while his activities in Europe and beyond will take a back seat.
Ryan Fox gone to the States
The Kiwi is something of a replica of Min Woo Lee because he ranks 105th on the Race to Dubai and won’t be competing in the Playoffs.
But he won twice on the PGA Tour in 2025 – at the Myrtle Beach Classic and Canadian Open – so he won’t be fretting about his future.
He now has a base in Florida which has helped his improved golf in the States, but you could see him back on the DP World Tour in the future because he’s laid back and the circuit tends to suit him more than the individualistic PGA Tour.
Bernd Wiesberger hanging on
The Austrian has had a fall from grace. He played the Ryder Cup in 2016 and was an 11-time winner around the world until he joined LIV in mid-2022.
Before then he had finished top three on the DP World Tour 24 times including his first win in Korea in 2009. But since returning from LIV he has only one top three finish (in June last year).
He ranks 113th on the rankings and should be safe to play next year but he won’t feel it until everything is confirmed on Sunday.
No need to feel too sorry for him, however. He sits 32nd in the career money list having won over €16.5million.
Matthew Southgate back to school
Talking of the career money list, Mike Lorenzo Vera retired from the game this year and he sits at 130th on the DP World Tour money list. That’s the highest ranking for any golfer who hasn’t won on the circuit.
The man most likely to creep above him soon is England’s Matthew Southgate who is currently 132nd with earnings of €5,989,115.
Alas, he is also 137th on this year’s Race to Dubai rankings so he is going back to Q School.
Yannik Paul on the edge
The real bubble boy in Korea and the biggest threat to Wiesberger, Clement Sordet (114th) and Adam Scott (115th).
The German was a winner in 2022 and talked of as a Ryder Cup performer in 2023 but just one top 30 all season (albeit third in the China Open) leaves him ranked 116th. He needs a good week in Korea.
Canada’s Aaron Cockerill and Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti are 117th and 118th respectively – and they play together in rounds one and two. A bit cruel.
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Article Link: DP World Tour drama with Shane Lowry amongst big-name players involved