The stakes were high for many of the field at the Genesis Championship, the last of the DP World Tour’s Back 9 events before two season-ending Playoffs.
For some players competing at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club in South Korea, their future on the circuit was in the balance, with positions in the Race to Dubai rankings at the end of the tournament determining who would and would not have a card for the 2026 season.
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However, it wasn’t just the fight to keep a DP World Tour card that meant the Genesis Championship had more on the line than most tournaments.
Players were competing for a place in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship
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Only the top 70 in the rankings after the Genesis Championship are eligible for that tournament, while that number will be whittled down to 50 for the final event of the season, the DP World Tour Championship.
At the first of the events, players will be competing for a share of a $9m purse, while those who reach the season finale will compete for a purse of $10m.
Other incentives include the chance to earn a PGA Tour card for those who finish in the top 10 of the rankings not otherwise exempt, while some retain the opportunity to win the Race to Dubai title.
In other words, making the first of the Playoffs was potentially career-defining for some of those in the Genesis Championship field. Here’s who just made it and who narrowly missed out.
Which Players Qualified For The DP World Tour Playoffs?
The obvious beneficiary of his performance in South Korea was Genesis Championship winner Junghwan Lee.
He had only played one previous DP World Tour event this season resulting in a missed cut at the Genesis Scottish Open. That meant he entered the Genesis Championship without any Race to Dubai ranking points.
Nothing less than a win would do, and that’s exactly what he got, beating Laurie Canter and Nacho Elvira by three to claim 835 points and finish 63rd in the rankings to book his place in the first of the Playoffs.
Junghwan Lee won the Genesis Championship – and a DP World Tour Playoffs spot
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The player who took the final spot in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship was Rafa Cabrera Bello. He placed T14 in South Korea to claim 67.71 points, bringing him to a total of 774.71 points.
Had he finished even one place lower on the leaderboard he would have missed out. As it is, he retained the position he began the tournament in, 70th, to claim his spot at the Abu Dhabi event.
Richard Sterne was one of the players Cabrera Bello shared 14th with, and the 67.71-point haul he received for that ensured he kept his place of 69th to qualify for the first of the Playoffs too.
The three players immediately above Sterne in the rankings are Manuel Elvira, Ben Schmidt and Matt Wallace.
Elvira missed the cut at the event, while Wallace didn’t play, and they will be thankful they remained above the line despite not improving their points tallies.
In Schmidt’s case, he gained 40.68 points for his T30 to ensure he finished 67th in the rankings, down two from the previous week.
One player facing a potentially season-ending tournament in South Korea was Andrea Pavan. He began the event 82nd in the rankings, but a T4 gave him 212.5 points – more than enough to secure his place in the first of the Playoffs as he rose 17 places to 65th.
Andrea Pavan was one of the big movers in the rankings to guarantee a Playoffs place
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Another player whose performance at the Genesis Championship determined his Playoffs destiny was one of the two players who shared the runner-up spot, Nacho Elvira.
The Spaniard began the event 92nd in the rankings with 573.4 points, but he came close to doubling that tally in South Korea, claiming an extra 433.5 points to move up 46 places in the rankings to 46th and book his place at the Abu Dhabi tournament.
One player who had already secured his spot at the first of the Playoffs was Laurie Canter, who began the event 14th in the rankings.
FROM 100 FEET! WHAT A PUTT @LaurieCanter 🙌 #GenesisChampionship pic.twitter.com/tmLeMkXtPfOctober 26, 2025
That meant he was in the mix for a PGA Tour card, and he did his chances of securing his place on the US-based circuit no harm at all with a tie for second helped by a 100-foot wonder putt to move up to ninth in the rankings and sixth on the list of those not otherwise exempt in line for a PGA Tour card.
Which Players Missed Out On The DP World Tour Playoffs?
Of course, for all the players breathing sighs of relief after earning their right to play in the first of the Playoffs events, it meant others faced disappointment.
Mikael Lindberg began the final round tied with Nacho Elvira at the top of the leaderboard.
Anywhere in the top six would have left him booking his flight to Abu Dhabi, but agonizingly, a final round of 73 saw him place T7 to miss out by one place in the rankings.
To rub salt into his wounds, the man who finished immediately above him in the rankings, Cabrera Bello, did so by just 1.06 points.
Mikael Lindberg missed out on the Playoffs by just over a point
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In 72nd and 73rd in the rankings are two players who began the tournament above the threshold, Ryggs Johnston and Jeong Weon Ko.
While both would have had high hopes going into the event, neither made the cut, meaning they couldn’t add to their points tallies and narrowly missed out.
Another player who was above the line at the start of the week was Wenyi Ding, who was 68th in the rankings. However, he didn’t play in the tournament, and it cost him a place in the Playoffs as he slipped to 75th.
Joe Dean began the tournament in 71st, but his T42 to earn 28.5 points wasn’t enough to move him up at least a place. Instead, he slipped three to finish 74th.
Jeong Weon Ko was one of several players to fail to reach the Playoffs despite starting the Genesis Championship above the threshold
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Another notable name to miss out was one of the players who finished T4 at the Genesis Championship, Yuto Katsuragawa. He claimed 212.5 points at the event to fire himself 40 places up the Race to Dubai rankings to 91st.
Had he finished the tournament one shot better off for a T3, it would have given him 433.5 points and left him 66th.
Race To Dubai RankingsSwipe to scroll horizontally
Position
Player
Points
Events Played
60th
Joel Girrbach
843.83
31
61st
Alex Fitzpatrick
841.40
26
62nd
Romain Langasque
841.06
26
63rd
Junghwan Lee
835.00
2
64th
Ugo Coussaud
831.91
26
65th
Andrea Pavan
819.67
30
66th
Matt Wallace
816.25
9
67th
Ben Schmidt
804.86
26
68th
Manuel Elvira
786.90
31
69th
Richard Sterne
776.12
26
70th
Rafa Cabrera Bello
774.71
29
CUT-OFF
CUT-OFF
CUT-OFF
CUT-OFF
71st
Mikael Lindberg
773.65
28
72nd
Ryggs Johnston
752.67
31
73rd
Joeong Weon Ko
742.93
32
74th
Joe Dean
728.99
26
75th
Wenyi Ding
728.25
27
76th
Jason Scrivener
705.79
26
77th
Ivan Cantero
697.95
28
78th
Guido Migliozzi
697.78
25
79th
Ashun Wu
696.65
10
80th
Ludvig Aberg
676.86
6
