American John Catlin [main picture] and Taichi Kho from Hong Kong will lead a party of 20 Asian Tour members at the Final Stage of the DP World Tour’s Qualifying School this week.

The six-round tournament starts on Friday at the award-winning INFINITUM resort on the Costa Dorada, south of Barcelona – and marks the 50^th anniversary of the pressure-packed competition.

A total of 156 players will tee-off chasing one of the 15 cards on the line for next year’s DP World Tour, while those who finish below 15th place and ties but within the leading 40 players and ties, will earn status on the HotelPlanner Tour.

Catlin surprisingly lost his playing status on the tour in 2023, having triumphed three times: at the Andalucia Masters and Irish Open, within the space of a month, in 2020 and the Austrian Open the following year. It was Asia’s gain though as when he returned to play in the region the following year he claimed the Order of Merit, and triumphed twice, plus was named player of the year.

Ahmad Baig. Picture by Graham Uden/Asian Tour.

Having claimed the Link Hong Kong Open three weeks ago he still has a chance to win this year’s Merit list and if he misses the school’s 72-hole cut he will high-tail it back to next week’s Philippine Open presented by Philippine Sports Commission – the season-ending event on the Asian Tour.

He came close to winning his DP World Tour card last week when a fourth place finish in the Grand Final, the HotelPlanner Tour’s last event of the year, saw his finish 19th on the rankings. The top 15 secured DP World Tour cards.

South African Ian Snyman is playing this week and will do the same as Catlin if he fails to progress, as he also has a chance to win the Merit list.

Pakistan’s rising star Ahmad Baig is another player in this week’s field having done exceptionally well to win one of last week’s second stage events by five shots.

Each player at the school will play two rounds over each of INFINITUM’s Lakes and Hills courses before the top 60 and ties make the 72-hole cut at the conclusion of play on Monday.

The final two rounds – held over The Lakes course next Tuesday and Wednesday – will then see the remaining players battle it out.

Asian Tour members at this week’s DP World Tour Qualifying School:

Dom Foos, Kalle Samooja, Mun Doyeob, Soomin Lee, Taichi Kho, Cameron John, Jinichiro Kozuma, Austen Truslow, Charlie Lindh, Ian Snyman, Will Florimo, Luis Masaveu, Christian Banke, Jack Buchanan, Kieran Vincent, Kevin Yuan, Ahmad Baig, Karandeep Kochhar, Yuvraj Sandhu.

Main picture by Graham Uden/Asian Tour.