Sandhu, Kochhar progress to DPWT Q School Final Stage

File photo of Chandigarh’s Karandeep Kochhar who was one of two Indians to progress from the DP World Tour’s Qualifying School Second Stage in Spain last week along with city-mate Yuvraj Sandhu.

By Rahul Banerji

Yuvraj Sandhu and Karandeep Kochhar have qualified for the six-day final stage of the DP World Tour’s Qualifying School in Spain.

The two were among five Indians including Shubhankar Sharma, Veer Ahlawat and teenager Kartik Singh who had gained entry to the four-day Second Stage tournament.

The qualifiers were played over 72 holes with no cut across four venues — Albacete’s Golf Las Pinaillas, Isla Canela Links in Huelva, Desert Springs Resort at Almeria and Girona’s Fontanals Golf Club.

While Shubhankar (Girona, 1 over 281) and Kartik (Huelva, 6 over 290) fell out of contention early, Ahlawat (Almeria, 11 under 277) slipped away after a strong run over the first two days at the tournament won by Pakistan’s Ahmad Baig . 

This is the first time that Shubhankar, a two-time DP World Tour winner, will not hold full playing rights in Europe after 2018. Last year too he returned to Q School and earned his card with an outstanding performance.

Kochhar was the pick of the five, sailing into the Final Stage with a shared eighth place finish in Girona with rounds of 66, 65, 67 and 71 to total 11 under 269 at the event won by Australian Anthony Quayle.

Tough test

At Albacete, Sandhu (64-66-72-70, 12 under 272) needed to come through a six-way Monday playoff to seal the final four spots along with Jack Buchanan, Alexandre Vandermoten and David Lundgren.

Action now shifts to Final Stage Qualifying to be played where the 80 Second Stage qualifiers join 76 players already exempt over six rounds at Infinitum Resort in Tarragona, Spain from November 6 to 11.

The Lakes and Hills Courses at the resort will decide the 15 players and ties who will earn playing opportunities on the DP World Tour alongside full status on the HotelPlanner Tour for the 2027 season.

Meanwhile, Frenchman Julien Sale produced a dominant final round to win the HotelPlanner Tour’s Grand Final in Mallorca from Denmark’s Hamish Brown, who topped the Road to Mallorca Rankings.

Sale, who will play on the DP World Tour for the first time, was second in the season-long standings behind Brown

Also read: Arin Ahuja tops DPW PGTI Q School as 48 earn 2027 status