The DP World Tour Playoff Spots Are Confirmed, As 100-Foot Wonder Putt Puts Former LIV Golfer In PGA Tour Card Contention

The stakes were high for many of the field at the Genesis Championship, the last of the DP World Tour's Back 9 events before two season-ending Playoffs.

For some players competing at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club in South Korea, their future on the circuit was in the balance, with positions in the Race to Dubai rankings at the end of the tournament determining who would and would not have a card for the 2026 season.

In the end, the likes of Dylan Frittelli, Bernd Wiesberger and Yannik Paul narrowly missed out on retaining their cards, while players including Thomas Detry, Sami Valimaki and Niklas Lemke scrambled above the line.

However, it wasn’t just the fight to keep a DP World Tour card that meant the Genesis Championship had more on the line than most tournaments.

Further up the Race to Dubai rankings, players were battling to earn their spots in the first of the prestigious and lucrative Playoffs, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yas Links.

Only the top 70 in the rankings after the Genesis Championship are eligible for that tournament, while that number will be whittled down to 50 for the final event of the season, the DP World Tour Championship.

At the first of the events, players will be competing for a share of a $9m purse, while those who reach the season finale will compete for a purse of $10m.

Other incentives include the chance to earn a PGA Tour card for those who finish in the top 10 of the rankings not otherwise exempt, while some retain the opportunity to win the Race to Dubai title.

In other words, making the first of the Playoffs was potentially career-defining for some of those in the Genesis Championship field. Here’s who just made it and who narrowly missed out.

Which Players Qualified For The DP World Tour Playoffs?

The obvious beneficiary of his performance in South Korea was Genesis Championship winner Junghwan Lee.

He had only played one previous DP World Tour event this season resulting in a missed cut at the Genesis Scottish Open. That meant he entered the Genesis Championship without any Race to Dubai ranking points.

Nothing less than a win would do, and that’s exactly what he got, beating Laurie Canter and Nacho Elvira by three to claim 835 points and finish 63^rd in the rankings to book his place in the first of the Playoffs.

The player who took the final spot in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship was Rafa Cabrera Bello. He placed T14 in South Korea to claim 67.71 points, bringing him to a total of 774.71 points.

Had he finished even one place lower on the leaderboard he would have missed out. As it is, he retained the position he began the tournament in, 70^th, to claim his spot at the Abu Dhabi event.

Richard Sterne was one of the players Cabrera Bello shared 14^th with, and the 67.71-point haul he received for that ensured he kept his place of 69^th to qualify for the first of the Playoffs too.

The three players immediately above Sterne in the rankings are Manuel Elvira, Ben Schmidt and Matt Wallace.

Elvira missed the cut at the event, while Wallace didn’t play, and they will be thankful they remained above the line despite not improving their points tallies.

In Schmidt’s case, he gained 40.68 points for his T30 to ensure he finished 67^th in the rankings, down two from the previous week.

One player facing a potentially season-ending tournament in South Korea was Andrea Pavan. He began the event 82^nd in the rankings, but a T4 gave him 212.5 points - more than enough to secure his place in the first of the Playoffs as he rose 17 places to 65^th.

Another player whose performance at the Genesis Championship determined his Playoffs destiny was one of the two players who shared the runner-up spot, Nacho Elvira.

The Spaniard began the event 92^nd in the rankings with 573.4 points, but he came close to doubling that tally in South Korea, claiming an extra 433.5 points to move up 46 places in the rankings to 46th and book his place at the Abu Dhabi tournament.

One player who had already secured his spot at the first of the Playoffs was Laurie Canter, who began the event 14^th in the rankings.

That meant he was in the mix for a PGA Tour card, and he did his chances of securing his place on the US-based circuit no harm at all with a tie for second helped by a 100-foot wonder putt to move up to ninth in the rankings and sixth on the list of those not otherwise exempt in line for a PGA Tour card.

Which Players Missed Out On The DP World Tour Playoffs?

Of course, for all the players breathing sighs of relief after earning their right to play in the first of the Playoffs events, it meant others faced disappointment.

Mikael Lindberg began the final round tied with Nacho Elvira at the top of the leaderboard.

Anywhere in the top six would have left him booking his flight to Abu Dhabi, but agonizingly, a final round of 73 saw him place T7 to miss out by one place in the rankings.

To rub salt into his wounds, the man who finished immediately above him in the rankings, Cabrera Bello, did so by just 1.06 points.

In 72^nd and 73^rd in the rankings are two players who began the tournament above the threshold, Ryggs Johnston and Jeong Weon Ko.

While both would have had high hopes going into the event, neither made the cut, meaning they couldn’t add to their points tallies and narrowly missed out.

Another player who was above the line at the start of the week was Wenyi Ding, who was 68^th in the rankings. However, he didn’t play in the tournament, and it cost him a place in the Playoffs as he slipped to 75^th.

Joe Dean began the tournament in 71^st, but his T42 to earn 28.5 points wasn’t enough to move him up at least a place. Instead, he slipped three to finish 74^th.

Another notable name to miss out was one of the players who finished T4 at the Genesis Championship, Yuto Katsuragawa. He claimed 212.5 points at the event to fire himself 40 places up the Race to Dubai rankings to 91^st.

Had he finished the tournament one shot better off for a T3, it would have given him 433.5 points and left him 66^th.

Race To Dubai Rankings