Why Ryder Cup Golfers Receive Guaranteed Entry to Season-Ending DP World Tour Playoff Events

The Northern Irish golfer ventures into new territory by playing in India this week as he makes his comeback to competition for the initial occasion since the Ryder Cup.

As the golf superstar widens his competitive experience, the DP World Tour begins the final phase of this year's Race to Dubai. McIlroy is in the leading spot to claim the season-long title for the fourth season running and seventh time overall.

This includes only three more events after the Indian event; the subsequent week's Genesis tournament in Korean venue - which concludes the 'Back Nine' phase of the schedule - and then the final two tournaments in the Arabian region.

These particular big money playoff tournaments in Abu Dhabi and the emirate are reserved for the leading seventy and then top 50 in the season rankings.

However for players such as Tommy Fleetwood and Lowry, who are also in this tournament lineup in the subcontinent, there is reduced stress than you might imagine.

Comfortably outside the seventieth position, at initial inspection it would appear both require strong performances from their trip to the Indian course to keep alive their seasons. Yet, in fact, they are already assured of their places in the UAE and the final event.

This results from a little publicised but practical exception whereby members of Europe's Ryder Cup team are also deemed qualified for the upcoming season finale events.

Fleetwood, who triumphed in the PGA Tour's play-offs with his impressive victory at August's Tour Championship in Georgia, sits 94th in the continental circuit's annual rankings. The Irish champion, who made the winning stroke that secured the team trophy, is 155th.

Additional squad members who can potentially benefit are Ludvig Aberg (seventy-second) and Straka (147th).

This could question the integrity of a play-off system, which by nature is intended to bring intense high-stakes drama, but this situation also demonstrates practical considerations faced by the Wentworth-based DP World Tour.

They are dependent on major sponsors such as the title partner, who are also the naming sponsors of this current tournament in India. The tour requires the biggest stars at their biggest events to justify the financial commitment, which amounts to millions of dollars.

Fleetwood has experienced one of his best seasons, capped by his maiden victory on American soil at East Lake just under eight weeks past.

Fleetwood represents one of the continent's elite players and, honestly, it would be unthinkable to stage the upcoming season climax without him.

Common sense trumps pure competition, even though the top-ranked player - a Dubai resident - has saved his strongest showings for tournaments that do not count on his home tour.

Fleetwood has to date played only four DP World Tour events and failed to place in the top 20 at any tournament; the Middle Eastern event, Scottish Open, BMW PGA Championship or pro-am competition.

The majors also count on the season standings and his share of 16th at the Open was his sole high finish in the major events. However on the US tour he achieved seven placements in the top five.

Fleetwood was also Europe's top points scorer at the New York course last month. It would be absurd for him not to be taking his place with the tour's leading stars at the end of the campaign.

While in the past the PGA and European tours were fierce competitors they are now inextricably linked thanks to the cooperative partnership that underpins European tour prize funds.

As the English golfer, recent champion of the Open De Espana, has positioned himself in McIlroy's wing mirrors as his closest rival at the summit of the Race to Dubai, much of the attention for the rest of the season will have an American bias.

The storyline will be shaped by the competition for ten spots on the PGA Tour for those who do not already have tour cards in the United States. Penge, with three DPWT wins, is guaranteed of what is generally considered as advancement to the US circuit.

The Clitheroe-based pro, who also guaranteed invitations to the Augusta National and British Open with his Spanish success, is not in the tournament lineup but will launch a final push to try to overhaul McIlroy at the peak of the standings.

And the English competitor, the player the champion beat in the Spanish playoff, is one of several British golfers in the thick of the battle for a future US tour card.

Northern golfer John Parry and the West Country pair of Jordan Smith and Canter also presently hold spots that would yield a golden ticket for the coming season.

Certain analysts view this development as evidence that the DP World Tour is now essentially a feeder for the larger circuit on the American continent.

However the organization maintain it is a crucial system that underpins their tour calendar, a essential and attractive feature that maximises competitive chances for its members.

Undoubtedly this is the time of the year where the practical aspects and necessary adjustments of elite golf competition seem at their clearest display.