Shubhankar Sharma earned his way back onto the DP World Tour with an amazing T-2 finish at the six-round Qualifying School in Tarragona, Spain, securing full playing rights for the 2026 season, his 8th, after a dismal regular season showing where he finished 178th in the rankings. The 29-year-old was the only one of 4 Indians playing the Qualifying event to make the 72-hole cut, amassing a staggering 24-under total with rounds of 70-69-66-67-66-66.
Sharma arrived at Final Stage needing a strong week after finishing 178th in the 2025 Race to Dubai and making only seven cuts in 28 starts. He carried momentum from the Second Stage at Desert Springs — where he was tied-eighth at 13-under — and improved each day at the Finals, ending with back-to-back 66s.
Three other players with Indian ties — Saptak Talwar from Delhi, Veer Ahlawat from Gurgaon and Indian-American Varun Chopra, from Illinois — also made it to the Final Stage but fell short of the 72-hole cut.
Talwar, who played all of 2025 on the Challenge Tour, advanced through the Second Stage Qualifier but carded rounds of 68-69-75-70 (4-under) in the Finals to miss the 72-hole cut in by two-strokes.
Chopra, from Illinois and the 2023 PGTI Rookie of the Year who has family roots in Chandigarh, and is now engaged to pro golfer Ridhima Dilawari, a multiple winner on the Hero WPGT reached Final Stage after progressing from First and Second Stages, but finished three strokes outside the cut.
Ahlawat, the 2024 PGTI Order of Merit champion, was exempt into Final Stage after earning a DPWT card through the PGTI–DPWT pathway. But like Om Prakash Chouhan (2024) and Manu Gandas (2023), he became the third straight PGTI No. 1 unable to retain his card, finishing 146th on the Race to Dubai. His missed cut at Q-School now puts pressure on his 2026 plans, though he remains safely inside Category A on the PGTI thanks to strong domestic earnings — most notably from the Hero Indian Open.
For Sharma, his return to the DP World Tour felt hard-earned — and well timed.
