DP World Tour Qualifying School Second Stage: Ben Coley's players to follow

At the same time, I'm of the view that the DP World Tour has too many members, given the number of co-sanctioned events on the schedule which mean places have to go to players on other tours.

Although the competition is weaker, which in itself means opportunity, seldom has it been more difficult for a new DP World Tour member to put together a proper schedule. That's why I'm glad to hear that the number of cards offered at Final Stage this year will be reduced to 20, though nothing official has yet been released. Personally, I'd have gone further, but it's the players who should have the final say.

Regardless, for now we've got Second Stage to look forward to on the DP World Tour this week. It takes place across four sites in Spain and there are some players here who could one day be world-class, others who have got close to that level in the past. There will be no recommended bets as so few firms will price these up, with Sky Bet the only ones to have done so at the time of writing.

Desert Springs

One of the striking features of last year's Qualifying School was the dominance of youth over experience. In theory, Q-School is meant to reward the latter: the old pro who knows it's a marathon rather than a sprint; who knows even that they really are good enough to join the big leagues. In practice, the kids were more than all right. In fact the four Second Stage medalists were born in 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002. Final Stage was bossed by Freddy Schott (2001) and Filippo Celli (2000).

Scotland's SANDY SCOTT fits the bill at Desert Springs then and he has the advantage of knowing that whatever happens here, the worst-case scenario is the Korn Ferry Tour in 2025. That has to help and having already cracked DataGolf's top 500, he would theoretically be around a 33/1 shot were he playing the Challenge Tour Grand Final this week.

Tomas Gouveia, a close second favourite, would be a good bit bigger so while he might be spurred on by his brother Ricardo's efforts in Korea at the weekend, Scott more than merits favouritism. He was 10th at First Stage after a fabulous performance to secure that KFT card in Canada. Expect him to come through this test as his career gathers pace following an injury setback soon after his delayed move to the pro ranks.

ALBIN BERGSTROM is another young player who achieved plenty in the US college system and, like Scott, he's got a bit of a free go at this. Bergstrom recently finished second in the Nordic Golf League's season-long rankings and will at worst hold a Challenge Tour card next season.

I expect we'll see him do a bit of damage if that's the path he has to take, 11th place on his latest start at that level offering plenty of promise, but he could yet bypass that stage altogether. Whether that would be to his benefit I'm less sure but at 28/1 with Sky Bet he made more appeal than the admittedly in-form Christian Jacobsen, another who comes from the NGL with plenty of potential.

Tom Sloman has enjoyed a good year on the Clutch Tour and translated that to a Challenge Tour top-10 recently so he should go well along with Alps Tour Order of Merit winner Benjamin Kedochim, another who has a Challenge Tour card guaranteed.

More interesting to me though is PAUL DUNNE, who showed signs of life in the Czech Republic recently. Dunne did fade after an opening 62 but told Brian Keogh that there were 'positive signs' with the driver, the club that has made life very difficult for the former British Masters champion.

I wonder if he might benefit from that spin and the nature of this event and those who can get three-figure prices might be inclined to take a very small chance. This looks the weakest of the four to my eye and while Bergstrom would be the number one choice, Dunne popping up inside the top five or six wouldn't shock me at all.

Isla Canela

Low scoring should be in order at Isla Canela, a short par 72 which tends to be vulnerable even in this grade. Much will depend on whether Friday's wind and rain materialises but even that may not be enough to prevent this becoming a shootout.

That potentially adds a good chunk of random to what's a stacked field, featuring a top-class amateur in Jacob Skov Olesen, two promising Norwegians in Mats Ege and Herman Sekne, recent DP World Tour contender Cedric Gugler, Korn Ferry Tour winners Julian Etulain and Tom Lewis, the latter almost certainly still good enough to get his DP World Tour card back...

...Tim Tillmanns, Matias Sanchez, Maximilian Steinlechner, Ben Eccles, Lauri Ruuska, Tobias Eden, Clement Sordet... there really are any number of names you wouldn't be surprised to see not just advance here, but go on to earn their cards at Final Stage. Eden famously (famously?) went all the way from First Stage to the big tour in 2022 and is a third of the way to repeating the trick but the competition here is fierce.

It's hard to know where to begin and I couldn't recommend a bet in this one given how stacked it is, but the three I like most are HURLY LONG, CORMAC SHARVIN, and QUIM VIDAL.

The latter has home advantage and only just missed out on the Challenge Tour Grand Final after a couple of narrow missed cuts. He missed a big chance in the Swiss Challenge not long ago and has generally looked in good shape for a while now.

Long and Sharvin have, in less obvious ways, also played much better lately. I put Long up at 300/1 in Korea last week and he gained strokes in all departments for 27th, a couple of spots better than he'd managed right here in Spain at the end of September, and it seems as though his long-game is in a better place than it has been all year.

It's little more than 12 months since he was a gallant runner-up in the Irish Open and with the signs of improvement he's shown during the course of the autumn, he could get his card back at the first opportunity. At the very least, Final Stage should prove well within reach providing the trip from Korea hasn't left a mark.

Sharvin meanwhile won a small event in Ireland in July and has since been fifth at First Stage. He's gone on to register back-to-back finishes of 21st and 12th on the Challenge Tour and is enjoying the game again, having briefly considered giving it up.

The one-time Walker Cup player also boasts an excellent record at Second Stage, with form figures reading 18-7-6-4. The most recent of those was two years ago and he looks in a better place now, albeit this is a competitive heat and he's not quite as big as I'd hoped he would be at 40/1.

I also have an eye on Adam Wallin, who hasn't quite pressed on following an excellent performance in the Scandinavian Mixed.

Still, it's only a few months since he took down Gordon Sargent at the NCAA Finals to cap a really good amateur career. I spent more time than I should have watching that match, as well as Wallin's subsequent defeat (on the final hole) to another young stud, and was really taken with him.

Unfortunately his form has dipped and while a best-of-the-day 64 in round two of First Stage helped him to sneak through, much more is needed.

Golf Las Pinaillas

This course was added to the roster last year and threw up a cracking leaderboard, tough conditions no doubt helping. Joe Dean stands out in second, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen was fourth, and if you keep scrolling you'll see Braden Thornberry somehow advanced despite an opening 81. Fast forward a year and he's your recent Korn Ferry Tour Championship winner. The margins in this game are wafer-thin.

There are plenty of solid players for the grade in here, Ashley Chesters and Sebastian Gros among them, while Frederik Birkelund has potential and young Josh Berry, one of the stories of last year's Qualifying School, has produced plenty of good golf during an educational season played across both Challenge and DP World Tours.

Perhaps Chesters' accurate game will stand him in good stead but there are some players with greater potential who I'm much more interested in, starting with DENWIT BORIBOONSUB, or David to his friends.

The young Thai rattled off an extremely rare hat-trick of wins over the course of three glorious weeks last December, claiming the scalp of Henrik Stenson in the last of them. This year has been nowhere near as lucrative and he did struggle in the Dunhill Links, but since then he's been close to the lead at some stage in all three starts, each in good company on the Asian Tour.

With Kiradech Aphibarnrat having just lost his card (for now), there's no longer a Thai golfer with full DP World Tour status. Perhaps Boriboonsub can put that right, first by sailing through four rounds at Las Pinaillas.

Speaking of the Dunhill Links, James Ashfield turned pro there and finished 25th, a fine first go in an event won by the world-class Tyrrell Hatton. This young Welshman won a big amateur title in Spain earlier this year and will no doubt be relishing his return.

Ashfield entered the final round in fifth place before the putter cooled during a closing 74. Still, there were a lot of positives and it would be nice were Wales to unearth a genuine star, 10 years and counting since Jamie Donaldson sealed the Ryder Cup for Europe.

Germany's TIGER CHRISTENSEN is a top-30 amateur who showed enough on the DP World Tour this summer to be of some interest and at a slightly bigger price than Ashfield would be preferred of the two.

Apparently named after a Polish boxer rather than, you know, Tiger Woods, Christensen talks the talk and his college efforts suggest he'll walk the walk in time. He's already played in an Open Championship, says he thrives under the gun, and is one of the hottest prospects a strong German golf scene has produced.

Watch out too for SPENCER CROSS, a young American player I selected for the ISCO Championship at a massive price back in July. He played well there, finishing 25th, and a couple of weeks ago topped a First Stage sectional for the Korn Ferry equivalent.

Cross had Monday qualified for the PGA Tour event won by Harry Hall and before that shot a second-round 63 to make another cut on the Korn Ferry Tour, where a year earlier he finished 10th on his first start at that level.

He looks a good player in the making and of the many US representatives across these four events, Cross is the one I'm most drawn to.

Fontanals Golf Club

Exemptions for leading amateurs was a great development on the part of the DP World Tour and the R&A, and two of them are in this sectional: Luis Masaveu and Bastien Amat.

Masaveu in fact begins his professional career this week having signed off as an amateur with 52nd in the Open de Espana, where he once again showed his prowess off the tee.

Amat did likewise in last year's US Open and he recently finished T3 at Korn Ferry Tour First Stage. It's unclear whether the Frenchman plans to turn professional now, but my understanding is that he'd have to if he were to go on to earn a DP World Tour card. Either way, we've not had many French amateurs achieve what he has and it'll be fun to find out more as we go.

Both are of course respected and I'd go as far as saying I expect Masaveu to progress to Final Stage given that he gets to play on home soil, but at the prices the more experienced BORJA VIRTO rates the pick of the Spanish team from a value perspective at four points bigger.

He's been playing well for three rounds, sometimes three and a half, on the Challenge Tour lately and will be annoyed he didn't make the Grand Final, which is of course held in Spain. Still, compensation could await as he has two top-fives in just four visits to Second Stage, including here last year. He's infuriating to follow but remains a bit better than this grade.

Oihan Guillamoundeguy and JC Ritchie finished 49th and 48th respectively on the Road to Mallorca and, with the top 47 making the Grand Final, they too will feel annoyed not to have quite made it there.

The Frenchman in particular catches the eye given his recent form though Ritchie is very solid, the kind of reliable tee-to-green player you'd fancy to nurse his way through whether contending for medalist honours or not. In fact of these three players he'd be the most reliable, while Anton Albers is another from the Challenge Tour who has been close enough to contending of late.

Tadeas Tetak won again on the Pro Golf Tour a few weeks ago and is among several promising players about whom we'll learn more this week, but I'll nod to RAYHAN THOMAS, who some may remember competing in the Dubai Desert Classic while still an amateur a few years ago.

The Indian, who lives in Dubai, turned pro this summer following a solid amateur career at Oklahoma State and has two top-10s in three Asian Tour starts, while also winning on his PGTI debut back home. Though he only scraped through First Stage after that victory, Thomas defied a slow start for seventh place in Thailand last week and is now firmly on the rise.

He's one who is sure to play the LIV Promotions event later this year but first up it's Second Stage as, like all young pros, he starts off by seeing what opportunities he can earn for himself. He's not been missed in the betting mind you.

The final name for the list though goes against the general theme of youth over experience. ARON ZEMMER is what he is, but that includes topping Second Stage a few years ago and he's been sixth and 15th in two subsequent visits, latterly here last year.

Having made six of his last seven Challenge Tour cuts, the Italian looked a fair price at 20/1 and is preferred to Matthew Cheung, a First Stage medalist who I selected when just outside the top 10 in China last time. Both are entitled to go well in what isn't the strongest sectional.