[PHOTO: Octavio Passos/Getty Images]
West Australian Haydn Barron will debut as a DP World Tour player at next week’s Fortinet Australian PGA Championship after securing a 2024 Tour card at final stage of Qualifying School in Spain.
Tied for fifth entering the final round of the gruelling six-round test at Infinitum Golf, Barron began the last day with three straight birdies from the second hole to set sail for one of the 33 cards that would be distributed by day’s end.
His lone bogey of the day came at the par-4 11th, parring his way safely into the clubhouse for a round of two-under 69, a 20-under par total, a tie for 10th and a spot on the DP World Tour in 2024.
Barron was exempt into Final Stage by virtue of his finish on the 2022-2023 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit.
He played in this year’s Open Championship after finishing tied for fourth at the 2022 ISPS Handa Australian Open and will now return home to start his rookie season on the DP World Tour at Royal Queensland Golf Club.
“Some of the toughest and most challenging golf I’ve ever played but we did it!” Barron said in a post to Instagram.
“Thank you to everyone who’s made this possible.”
Barron most recently finished tied for 25th at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews and was then runner-up to Ben Eccles at the CKB WA PGA Championship after only arriving in Kalgoorlie on the morning of the tournament.
While it was jubilation for Barron, it was heartbreak for fellow West Australian Hayden Hopewell.
A round of two-under 69 meant Hopewell finished two shots shy of the top-25-and-ties cut-off, he and Connor McKinney securing Challenge Tour cards for next year by virtue of playing all six rounds.
