Why European Team Players Receive Guaranteed Entry to Season-Ending DP World Tour Playoff Events

The Northern Irish golfer breaks new ground by competing in India this week as he makes his comeback to action for the first time since the Ryder Cup.

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

There are only three more events after the India Championship; the following week's Genesis tournament in South Korea - which concludes the 'Back Nine' phase of the tour calendar - and then the last two competitions in the Middle East.

These high-stakes 'play-off' events in Abu Dhabi and the emirate are exclusively available for the top 70 and then top 50 in the season rankings.

But for players such as Fleetwood and Shane Lowry, who are also in this week's field in the subcontinent, there is reduced stress than you might imagine.

Comfortably outside the top 70, at initial inspection it would appear both need strong performances from their trip to the Delhi Golf Club to keep alive their seasons. Yet, in fact, they are guaranteed in advance of their places in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

This is due to a little publicised but pragmatic exception whereby members of the European squad are also deemed qualified for the upcoming closing tournaments.

The English golfer, who won the PGA Tour's play-offs with his impressive victory at August's Tour Championship in Atlanta, lies ninety-fourth in the continental circuit's annual rankings. The Irish champion, who sank the putt that secured the Ryder Cup, is 155th.

Other European team-mates who can also qualify are Ludvig Aberg (72nd) and Sepp Straka (147th).

This might question the fairness of a play-off system, which by definition is supposed to bring intense high-stakes drama, but this situation also illustrates practical considerations faced by the Wentworth-based European circuit.

They are reliant on major sponsors such as the title partner, who are also the naming sponsors of this week's event in India. The tour requires the biggest stars at their biggest events to justify the financial commitment, which runs to millions of dollars.

Fleetwood has enjoyed one of his best campaigns, capped by his first win on US territory at East Lake just under eight weeks past.

Fleetwood represents one of the continent's superstars and, honestly, it would be inconceivable to host the upcoming season climax without him.

Practical considerations overrides pure competition, even though the world number five - a local resident - has reserved his strongest showings for events that do not count on his domestic circuit.

Fleetwood has to date played only four DP World Tour events and failed to finish in the leading twenty at any tournament; the Middle Eastern event, Scottish Open, BMW PGA Championship or Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Major championships also contribute on the season standings and his sixteenth-place finish at the Open was his only top 20 in the big four tournaments. But on the US tour he enjoyed seven placements in the top five.

Fleetwood was also Europe's top points scorer at the New York course last month. It would be ridiculous for him not to be taking his place alongside the circuit's top performers at the conclusion of the season.

While in the previous era the American and European circuits were deadly rivals they are now closely connected thanks to the strategic alliance that underpins DP World Tour financial rewards.

As Marco Penge, recent champion of the Open De Espana, has positioned himself in McIlroy's wing mirrors as his nearest challenger at the top of the season championship, much of the attention for the remaining schedule will have an US focus.

The storyline will be shaped by the scramble for ten spots on the American circuit for those who do not already have playing rights in the US. The rising star, with three DPWT wins, is guaranteed of what is widely regarded as 'promotion' to the American tour.

The Lancashire golfer, who also guaranteed invites to the Augusta National and Open with his Madrid victory, is not in the tournament lineup but will launch a final push to try to overtake McIlroy at the top of the standings.

Meanwhile the English competitor, the player Penge beat in the Spanish playoff, is one of several British golfers in the midst of the battle for a future US tour card.

Northern golfer John Parry and the Bath duo of Jordan Smith and Canter also currently occupy positions that would yield a golden ticket for the coming season.

Some observers see this scenario as proof that the DP World Tour is now nothing more than a feeder for big brother on the other side of the pond.

But the organization argue it is a crucial system that supports their tour calendar, a essential and attractive feature that optimizes playing opportunities for its participants.

Certainly this is the time of the year where the practical aspects and necessary adjustments of men's professional golf seem at their clearest display.