Thursday 18 October 2018 07:34, UK
Eddie Pepperell's two-shot win at the Sky Sports British Masters lifted the Englishman to seventh in the Race to Dubai, but there is only one more tournament for players to secure their European Tour card for next season.
Pepperell remains more than two million points behind runaway leader Francesco Molinari, although the final four events - the WGC in China, Turkish Airlines Open, Nedbank Golf Challenge and the World Tour Championship offer up a grand total of 32.5m points between them so there is still time for a late surge from anyone inside the top 10.
Before then is this week's Andalucia Masters at Valderrama, which while only offering a relatively modest number of points, does represent the last chance for players further down to ensure they finish inside the top 110 and are teeing up again next season.
The top 60 players after the Nedbank qualify for the lucrative DP World Tour Championship in Dubai next month.
Of those battling for their cards, Bradley Dredge, who occupied the final spot before the British Masters, missed the cut at Walton Heath and has fallen to 111th ahead of Valderrama, one ahead of France's European Tour four-time winner Raphael Jacquelin, who also failed to make it to the weekend.
David Drysdale suffered a nightmare third round at Walton Heath, shooting an eight-over 80 to end his hopes of a high placing, but he rallied with a 72 on Sunday to finish tied for 63rd - enough to inch him into the top 110 ahead of Dredge.
As for those battling for a place in Dubai, England's Danny Willett lost ground after missing the cut and is 62nd, 18,000 points behind 60th-placed Dean Burmester, while Oliver Fisher also looks set to miss out after a 77 on Friday ended his hopes of a profitable weekend in Surrey.
Shane Lowry is 63rd after his hole-in-one at the fifth on Friday helped him to a share of 34th and prize money of nearly 24,000 euros.
Further up, Alexander Bjork's excellent week in Surrey sees him rise to 12th, while Jordan Smith's five-under total was good enough to tie for third and all but secure his place in Dubai courtesy of the 192,884 euro prize money.
Sam Horsfield will be breathing easier this week too. He was outside the top 60 heading into the British Masters, but a final round 69 earned him a tie for fifth to move 52nd in the list.
