With most golf fans keeping their eyes glued on the world’s best at Yas Links for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on the DP World Tour, they may be excused for letting this other pressure-filled tournament slip under their radar.
If you were to head 3000 miles east from Abu Dhabi into Europe, one of the most gruelling weeks in professional golf is rearing its head once again.
The six-round marathon, that is final stage of DP World Tour Qualifying School.
The sun has risen on six potentially life-changing days of golf at @infinitumresort 🌅
Welcome to round one of Final Stage.#DPWTQSchool pic.twitter.com/B49CvK3HlS
— DP World Tour Q-School (@DPWTQSchool) November 8, 2024
With the likes of DP World Tour stalwarts in Stephen Gallacher, Oliver Wilson, Chris Wood and Edoardo Molinari being joined by fellow multiple DP World Tour winners in Eddie Pepperell, James Morrison, Renato Paratore, David Horsey, Justin Harding, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño, Marc Warren, George Coetzee, Lee Slattery and Tom Lewis all who are fighting to regain their playing rights on tour.
A week where if you need to keep a cool head in pressure situations, this is it.
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One rookie in the field this week, need look no further for help, as he is keeping it within the family by having own uncle stepping in as looper. Who has a pretty tidy playing resume himself, having won the Masters in 1994 and 1999 while also being on multiple winning European Teams in the Ryder Cup and a successful tenure as Captain in 2012 at Medinah.
Joseba Torres is the nephew of José María Olazábal, and the former Spanish Under-16 champion has his world-renowned uncle on the bag.
The Nova Southeastern University graduate, is more than happy to lean on the experience of his uncle, who has been supporting him since he first picked up a club as a child and this week will be carrying a full set of them for his nephew in Spain.
“Luckily enough I have a good caddie with me here this week,” Joseba said. “I’m very lucky to have my uncle José María Olazábal on the bag.
“I’ve practised with him a lot and to have him on the bag with his experience and his knowledge, I’m very lucky.
“The knowledge he has of how to play the shot, what to do in a certain situation – all the stuff that when you’re playing by yourself you don’t really deal with very well. With him it’s so easy because he tells you exactly what you need to do.
“He has been with me since I started playing golf when I was three years old.
“Obviously in a tournament it is different but he has always been with me and he knows what I’m more comfortable with and not. He really knows my game.
“Whatever he says I say yes, let’s go and do it because I really trust him. I know he isn’t going to say anything that I don’t need to do so I really trust what he says.”
Olazábal knows the grind of Qualifying School all too well himself, having won the tournament in 1985 and then the following year picking up the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award after finishing second on the then European Tour’s Order of Merit.
Having already made his way successfully through the first two stages of Qualifying School this year, Joseba now faces six gruelling rounds ahead of him, where alongside 155 other players, he will play two rounds over INFINITUM’s Lakes and Hills courses before a 72-hole cut is made.
The final two rounds will then see the remaining players battle it out to finish in the top 20, with the top 20 and ties earning playing privileges on the DP World Tour for next season.