By Mathieu Wood
Tournament after tournament, the new Back 9 on the DP World Tour delivered compelling drama and no shortage of tremendous storylines.
From Sutton Coldfield in England to Incheon in South Korea, golf fans have been blessed with a series of spectacles that have captured the imagination.
A new initiative on the DP World Tour in 2024, the run of events has produced a trio of worthy first-time winners, seen household figures return to the winner’s circle and international stars triumph on the big stage.
Amid the high-quality golf that has unfolded, it is impossible not to highlight the undeniable levels of passion many of the events have created.
The nine-week phase on the 2024 Race to Dubai incorporated three national opens, long regarded as a vital element of the DP World Tour and where the pressure on players to win their home open is the most they will experience outside trying to win a Major Championship or playing a Ryder Cup.
And it was at one of them, namely the acciona Open de España presented by Madrid, where such heightened emotions were most evident.
At the end of an exhilarating final-round battle, in which the final three-ball consisted of a trio of Spaniards, Angel Hidalgo mixed an impressive array of shot-making with determination to overcome former World Number One and two-time Major winner Jon Rahm in a play-off at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.
Everyone loves an underdog and Hidalgo, who was playing on the Alps Tour in 2021, most certainly was against Rahm, the most successful Spanish golfer since the turn of the century.
By the moment Hidalgo became a first-time winner on the DP World Tour, we were already at the halfway point of the Back 9 as players vied to climb the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex and qualify for the inaugural DP World Tour Play-Offs in November.
Before then, Niklas Nørgaard had made his own breakthrough at the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo in the phase-opening event at The Belfry.
After three top-ten finishes earlier in the campaign, it proved a triumph that has ignited the Dane to a strong end to the year and put a PGA TOUR card within his grasp.
A week later, just two months on from opening up on the tough side of golf in an honest interview in the Green Room after missing the cut at the Genesis Scottish Open, Matt Wallace claimed a hard-fought play-off triumph over Alfredo Garcia-Heredia in the Swiss Alps at the Omega European Masters.
After a six-year wait, the Englishman had made the perfect start to his bid to make next year’s European Ryder Cup team at Bethpage.
Another player who will be hoping to be in Luke Donald’s team next September is Rasmus Højgaard, and the Dane underlined his talent with a closing six-under-par 65 – including four birdies in his final five holes – to deny home favourite Rory McIlroy at the Amgen Irish Open.
At the age of 23, Højgaard had become a five-time DP World Tour winner, the youngest to do so since José María Olazábal in 1989, and effectively secured himself dual membership next year.
But if missing out on a first professional victory in his homeland wasn’t enough disappointment for McIlroy, there was to be more heartbreak a week later as he lost out to Billy Horschel in a play-off at the BMW PGA Championship.
In contention throughout over the West Course, the four-time Major champion ultimately fell just short as Horschel made an eagle on the second extra hole to win his second Rolex Series title at Wentworth Club.
At what is a prestigious event on the calendar, the sight of two of the world’s best players going head-to-head alongside South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence offered a thrilling denouement.
Another was to come soon after at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship as Tyrrell Hatton was pushed all the way by Nicolas Colsaerts before winning the title for a record third time at St Andrews.
And while Colsaerts was unable to claim a fairytale victory after struggling with illness and form in recent years, the Belgian’s runner-up finish ensured his retirement plan was put on hold and instead he will be teeing it up on the DP World Tour with renewed hope next year.
From Scotland, attention switched to France for continental Europe’s oldest national open as Le Golf National played host to another thrilling final-day battle.
At one stage 11 players held a share of the lead at the FedEx Open de France, before Dan Bradbury made the decisive move with a hat-trick of birdies from the 14th helping him to a one-shot victory and a second DP World Tour title.
That left two events still to play and you’d have been forgiven for thinking they wouldn’t be able to match the entertainment of the previous seven but that they did.
On the Tour’s return back to Spain for the second time in a few weeks, another first-time winner was to be crowned but this time around it wasn’t to be a Spanish double on home soil.
At the end of a nine-hole play-off – equalling the record for the longest on the DP World Tour – Julien Guerrier was to emerge the victor from a thrilling battle with home favourite Jorge Campillo at Real Club de Golf Sotogrande.
Surely another fantastic finale was too much to hope for at the Genesis Championship as the DP World Tour regular season drew to a close?
But no. In a week where there were a host of narratives at play, from players trying to reach the DP World Tour Play-Offs and those trying to earn or retain their cards, drama and excitement was again in abundance to the end.
And after naturally grabbing much of the spotlight, Byeong Hun An defeated fellow local hero Tom Kim in front of his watching family to become a two-time DP World Tour winner.
But, perhaps unlike most weeks on Tour, there was more than one winner, and for that matter more than one loser.
Among those celebrating was Ricardo Gouveia, who climbed over 50 spots on the Race to Dubai Rankings with his third-place finish in Incheon, while Nicolai Højgaard enjoyed a strong final round to extend his season to the Middle East.
For others, however, like fan favourite Eddie Pepperell and fellow Englishmen James Morrison and Matt Southgate, along with four-time DP World Tour winner Ashun Wu, it is a trip to Qualifying School that awaits after finishing outside the top 114 on the rankings.
For those more successful over the course of the season, including the Back 9, the DP World Tour Play-Offs await in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
But before then, time to take a breath.
