South African golfer Zander Lombard took a major stride toward securing his DP World Tour card for 2026, storming into a six-stroke lead after day four of the Final Stage Qualifying School at INFINITUM, Tarragona.
Sharing the overnight lead with Zimbabwe’s Benjamin Follett-Smith, Lombard produced a brilliant seven-under-par 64 on the Lakes Course to move to 22-under-par for the week, well clear of Australia’s Connor McKinney, who sits second.
Lombard made a flying start, opening with back-to-back birdies and adding two more at the fifth and sixth. A bogey on the seventh was quickly erased with birdies on the eighth and ninth, taking him out in 30 shots. Three more birdies and a single bogey on the back nine stretched his advantage, leaving him in full control of the leaderboard.
“It was really good stuff again,” Lombard said. “I hit the ball well and managed the wind when it picked up. The birdie-birdie start gave me momentum, and I’ve been focused on staying disciplined and avoiding careless mistakes.”
The 30-year-old’s comeback is remarkable, having undergone ACL reconstruction surgery in July 2024 while ranked 96th in the world. Returning in March, he now looks poised to regain his Tour status, something he last achieved in 2018.
“My game has been trending, and it’s rewarding to see the hard work pay off,” he added. “I told my wife earlier this week that I shouldn’t even be here after the surgery, but it’s proof that I belong among the best again.”
France’s Quentin Debove fired the round of the day, an eight-under 63, to move into a share of third with Follett-Smith and Matthew Baldwin on 15-under. Five players, including Shubhankar Sharma, Aaron Cockerill, Nathan Kimsey, Hamish Brown, and Davis Bryant, sit one shot back in sixth.
Sixty players survived the 72-hole cut, with the top 20 and ties after six rounds set to earn Category 18 DP World Tour cards for the 2026 season. Round five tees off tomorrow at 9:00 a.m., with Lombard paired alongside McKinney and Follett-Smith at 10:44 a.m. on the Lakes Course.
About the DP World Tour
The DP World Tour is the main men’s professional golf tour of the European Tour group.
As golf’s global tour, we showcase global talent in global destinations and use our platform to build, entertain, and connect our global community.
GLOBAL TALENT: We provide pathways and a platform for the leading international talent, bringing together golfing icons, national heroes, and emerging stars from around the world.
GLOBAL DESTINATIONS: We stage tournaments in iconic cities and locations around the world, and each week we celebrate and showcase the rich diversity of the courses, cities, and cultures we visit.
GLOBAL COMMUNITY: We build, entertain, and connect communities through our commitment to innovation, creative content, and having a positive social and environmental impact.
Our 2025 Global Schedule features 42 tournaments in 26 different countries and comprises three distinct phases: five ‘Global Swings’, the ‘Back 9’, and the ‘DP World Tour Play-Offs’. It features five Rolex Series events – the premium category of events on the DP World Tour and four Major Championships, all of which count towards the Race to Dubai Rankings, the Tour’s season-long competition which concludes at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
DP World, the leading provider of global smart end-to-end supply chain and logistics solutions, has been the title partner of the DP World Tour since the start of the 2022 season, the Tour’s 50th season following its formation in 1972.
We also enjoy the support of many of the world’s leading business brands with DP World, Rolex, Aldar, BMW, Buffalo Trace Distillery, Emirates, Fortinet, and Vestas as Official Partners.
About the European Tour group
The European Tour group administers the DP World Tour, the HotelPlanner Tour, the Legends Tour, and the G4D Tour and, as the Managing Partner of Ryder Cup Europe LLP, stages golf’s greatest team contest, the Ryder Cup, in partnership with the PGA of America.
The European Tour group has Strategic Partnerships with the PGA TOUR, the Sunshine Tour, the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, the China Golf Association (CGA), the Japan Golf Tour Organization (JGTO), the Korea Professional Golfers’ Association (KPGA), and the TATA Steel Professional Golf Tour of India. These partnerships provide global pathways for players from across the world to compete internationally on the DP World Tour, the main men’s professional golf Tour of the European Tour group, which was established in 1972, as well as the HotelPlanner Tour.
