For anyone who has read John Feinstein’s A Good Walk Spoiled, they will know about the unconsciously stress-inducing conditions inflicted on those who play at Q-school.
Feinstein wrote about the PGA Tour’s version, about players attempting to put a good swing on a shot coming down the stretch with their livelihoods on the line, in a pre-Tiger Woods era when golf’s prize money was good, but incomparable to the current generation.
The masterful scribe, who sadly died earlier in 2025, painted a picture of the cauldron of Q-school, and the pain suffered by players who made mistakes at the wrong time, but also those who rose to the occasion.
There is no more relevant time to refer back to one of the sport’s great novels. It is Q-school week on the DP World Tour, at Infinitum in Tarragona, Spain.
I reported from the ground at Q-school in 2023 when the likes of Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Tom Lewis, Joe Dean and young Josh Berry earned their stripes after six gruelling rounds.
I spoke to Berry, who was an 18-year-old amateur from Doncaster at the time. After an understandably up-and-down season that followed such a memorable week, he was back at Q-school in 2024.
He qualified again, becoming somewhat of a Q-school master. When I arrived at the site two years ago to catch up with some players ahead of the final round, it didn’t really dawn on me until later on that while I swooped in, fresh-faced and full of excitement to follow the action, Berry and co. were five rounds into what is the most gruelling week in European golf, bar none.
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DP World Tour Q-school format adds strain on an already-stressful week
The mathematicians among you might have now worked out that the Final Stage of Q-school is six rounds, and 108 holes. In 2025, 156 players made it to the Final Stage, and the top 20 scores and ties will receive some type of playing privileges on the DP World Tour, category 18 to be precise.
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Some players drop down from the Race to Dubai rankings and land at this last-chance saloon, those outside of the top 115 who couldn’t keep their playing rights for 2026, and some, such as fan favourite Eddie Pepperell, had to come through Second Stage qualifying at the end of October/start of November.
If the Englishman, who has won twice on the main tour and is now heard by many on the Chipping Forecast podcast, comes in the top 20 by the end of play on November 12, he will have done it across 10 rounds and 180 holes.
What Q-school does is separate the men from the boys. Want your card back? You’ll need to work for it. You’ve got one last chance, but we’re not going to make it easy for you. This is the message sent to each hopeful. Earn it in the dirt.
But, if we are honest, isn’t this all a bit much?
Six rounds. This is six rounds we are talking about. That is what used to be two LIV Golf events. That’s like Rory McIlroy hitting the top of the leaderboard at Augusta, then having two more tournament days to get your head around.
Format sympathisers could say you’re never out of it with a longer week. ‘I’ve shot 2-over today, but there’s plenty of time, don’t worry.’ There is a four-round cut, but still, don’t fret if you play badly on even day one and two. There’s a long way to go.
I’d oppose this school of thought.
The players know what they are there for: to fight tooth and nail for a DP World Tour card. They are already going through mental torment, and their concentration levels are full to bursting. Does this anguish really need to be extended another 36 holes on top of the standard four-round format that golf is based on?
Every other DP World Tour event is 72 holes, as is the PGA Tour. Heck, even LIV Golf has decided that it is the right format. The majors adopt a 72-hole schedule too, and it is all because this is the best way to establish the right winner, and in this case, for Q-school, to find the players who deserve it.
Q-school is a fantastic event, and that is very easy to say when you’re sitting writing about it and not playing in it. In a sport now with heinous amounts of money falling into the pockets of people who mostly don’t deserve it, dollar bills aren’t a consideration in Infinitum each November.
There is no need for Q-school to be played across six rounds. It is mentally taxing to the point of cruelty and, for many players, it will all be for nothing.
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