Stakes high for Irish players across multiple tours
Sara Byrne. Picture © Ladies European Tour
It’s a big week for several Irish players as the race to keep cards or earn promotion heats up on tours around the world.
DP World Tour
Shane Lowry, Tom McKibbin and Conor Purcell fly the flag in this week’s Open de España presented by Madrid.
With only the DP World India Championship in Delhi on his schedule later this month, Lowry needs some big weeks to qualify for the DP World Tour playoffs as he’s 154th in the Race to Dubai.
He said at the Amgen Irish Open that he won’t be chasing his spot in top 70 who qualify for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yas Links in November.
Only the top 50 after that will go on to play the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
Lowry and McKibbin are joined in Madrid by Conor Purcell, who is 146th in the Race to Dubai with only the top 115 guaranteed full playing rights on the DP World Tour next season.
If they were to win this week, McKibbin and Purcell would earn invitations to the 2026 Masters and The Open at Royal Birkdale after Augusta National and the R&A announced they were aligning aspects of their qualifying criteria.
The event that has attracted a top field with Rahm, McKibbin, Purcell and Lowry joined at the Club de Campo by defending champion Angel Hidalgo and LIV stars Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed and Joaquin Neimann.
LPGA
Leona Maguire will be looking for a good week in the $2.20 million Buick LPGA Shanghai after missing the cut in two of her last three starts.
She’s 53rd in the Race to CME Globe standings but did not appear overly happy with the state of the greens at Qizhong Garden Golf Club.
The Co. Cavan start posted an Instagram story showing a heavily sanded putting surface over a picture of a pristine course with a laughing emoji and the caption: “Instagram v Reality”.
HotelPlanner Tour
The Hainan Open 2025 is a key event for Liam Nolan and Max Kennedy as they bid for their DP World Tour cards.
Just three events are remaining before the top 20 in the Road to Mallorca standings, who earn promotion, are confirmed.
Nolan is 32nd in the standings with Kennedy 40th.
Both men have two events in China to move up the standings before the top 45 contest the season-ending Rolex Grand Final supported by The R&A at Club de Golf Alcanada in Mallorca from October 3o to November 2.
Ladies European Tour
Rookies Anna Foster, Sara Byrne, Annabel Wilson and Canice Screene are the Irish hopefuls teeing it up in this week’s Hero Women's Indian Open at DLF Golf and Country Club from October 9-12.
While 11th-ranked Lauren Walsh takes a break, Fosters (47th), Byrne (63rd), Wilson (85th) and Screene (142nd) will be looking to make moves up the Order of Merit in the US$500,000 event.
It’s a crucial week as there are only four events of the LET season remaining in the battle to secure cards for 2026.
Only the top 70 of the Order of Merit will be fully exempt, and as the next two events have limited fields this week, it could represent the last chance for many to accrue some points.
Three of the top four players on the Order of Merit are in attendance.
England’s Mimi Rhodes, who leads both the Order of Merit and Rookie of the Year, leads Singapore’s Shannon Tan by 209.54 points, with Czechia’s Sara Kouskova 498.76 points behind the three-time LET winner.
England’s Liz Young was victorious last time out, securing her second LET title with a one-stroke victory.
The two-time LET winner is back to defend her crown and is joined by 2017 champion Camille Chevalier of France.
Alps Tour
It’s close to crunch time for Ronan Mullarney, Robert Moran and Hugh Foley on the third-tier circuit, which returns this week for the Parma Alps Open at Golf del Ducato Percorso in Italy.
It’s the penultimate event before the Regione Lazio Alps Tour Grand Final, after which the top five not already exempt will be awarded cards on the DP World Tour’s HotelPlanner Tour for 2026.
Mullarney heads into the event ranked fourth in the Order of Merit behind Spain’s Javier Barcos Garbayo, France’s Quentin Debove and Italy’s Jacopo Vecchi Fossa.
Foley is 16th, almost 9,000 points outside the top five, with Moran nearly 3,000 points further back in 23rd.
They are joined in Parma by 115th-ranked Marc Boucher.
