As the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai heads to a thrilling climax at the Earth course of Jumeirah Golf Estates this week, there are several exciting storylines waiting to unfold.
There is the world No2 Rory McIlroy aiming to win a mind-boggling eighth Race to Dubai crown and match Colin Montgomerie’s record. There is the young Eugenio Chacarra, winner of the Hero Indian Open last year and the DP World India Championship this year, who has sealed his PGA Tour card, but desperately wants to stop McIlroy. And there is the other Spaniard, Jon Rahm, who sizzled in Abu Dhabi last week and is on a golf course where he has won three times and never finished outside the top five in his five starts.
However, for the Indian fans, it will be a disappointing end to another season. None of our players are in the field. Shubhankar Sharma and Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, who both had DP World Tour cards, finished 160th and 172nd in the Order of Merit, which means they are well outside the top-50, the qualification mark for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
That disappointment was further compounded earlier this week when three Indian players – Sandhu, Karandeep Kochhar and Kshitij Naveed Kaul – failed to advance to the last two rounds of the Final Stage of the Qualifying School on Monday.
{{/usCountry}}That disappointment was further compounded earlier this week when three Indian players – Sandhu, Karandeep Kochhar and Kshitij Naveed Kaul – failed to advance to the last two rounds of the Final Stage of the Qualifying School on Monday.
{{/usCountry}}It means Saptak Talwar will be the lone man flying the Indian flag on the DP World Tour in 2027. He secured his Category 17 card by winning the DP World-PGTI Order of Merit.
Sharma’s form, especially on the DP World Tour over the past couple of years, has been perplexing. There is no denying his class, and when he gets going, he can compete against the very best in the world. Of course, he has grappled with equipment issues, but two years should be enough to either find new ones or get used to whatever he is using now.
And then, there is also this anomaly about him coming home for two domestic tour events and winning both by whopping margins – by eight and six shots.
Obviously, the fields are much stronger on the DP World Tour, but it is still remarkable that Sharma managed to decimate the opposition. He credited the wins to the fact that he was among friends, which helped him play with a “free mindset”. He was enjoying his time off the course, and it showed in what he was doing inside the ropes.
Technique-wise, the Sharma of 2026 is much better than the Sharma of 2018. His work ethic is as good as anybody in world golf. It’s up to his team – and that includes renowned coach Jesse Grewal – to figure out the way forward, but he clearly needs to think differently. He needs to play with the freedom that he felt in his early 20s. Hiring a good sports psychologist would probably be a good idea.
Sandhu needs more time on the DP World Tour. There has been ample evidence of him playing well in certain stretches of holes, and he needs to do that for 72 holes. Rookie season on the DP World Tour is extremely demanding, but he is a hungry young man, and he’d do much better whenever he gets back there.
Of the five players who have benefited from PGTI’s alliance with the DP World Tour – Talwar, Manu Gandas, Om Prakash Chouhan, Veer Ahlawat and Sandhu – it’s Talwar who seems best prepared for the challenge of playing a global schedule, including a majority of events in Europe. He spent the last two seasons on the Challenge Tour and has continued to develop his game.
However, hope springs eternal. A very important step in the evolution of Indian men’s golfers was missing for the past four years. With the normalisation of relations between the PGTI and the Asian Tour, that step has been added back into the process. It will, in all probability, make the transition to Europe smoother for the players.
Another good sign was the number of players signing up for the tough DP World Tour Qualifying School. Three of them progressed to the final stage. And with the new DP World-PGTI initiative, where the Tour is providing financial assistance to some of its players to take part in global Q Schools, the numbers are only going to get better.