The Road to Mallorca: How Golf's Promotion Race Works

If, like me, watching a new face on tour catapult a 330yd drive onto the green begs the question, “Where the hell did that guy come from?”, then… well, read on.

The basics

What is the Road to Mallorca?

The Road to Mallorca is the season-long promotion race on the HotelPlanner Tour, previously known as the Challenge Tour. It sits one level below the DP World Tour with players competing for the chance to move up, Hunger Games style.

Players earn points according to where they finish in tournaments throughout the season. Those points make up the Road to Mallorca Rankings, and the top 45 qualify for the Grand Final at Club de Golf Alcanada in Mallorca.

After four rounds, the top 15 in the final season standings receive DP World Tour cards for the next season. The other way in is Q School, six rounds in November with 15 cards (and ties) on offer.

Points

How the points work

A normal event offers about 2,000 points, shared out according to finishing position. The Hainan Open and the Hangzhou Open carry 750 extra each. The Grand Final has 4,000 available over four days, and a winner picks up 640 of them.

The prize

What a card is worth

A DP World Tour card changes everything. Better tournaments, bigger prize funds and, potentially, a route into the Majors.

HotelPlanner Tour players often cover their own practice, travel and caddy between events. We all know golf is expensive, now imagine self-funding a charge towards the DP World Tour.

Marco Penge won the 2023 Grand Final and won three DP World Tour titles in 2025, which earned him invitations to the Masters and The Open. Kristoffer Reitan's first professional victory came at Alcanada in 2024 and he made it onto the PGA Tour for 2026. Henrik Stenson won the Grand Final in 2000 and went on to win The Open.

But getting there doesn't mean staying there. Players who slip down the DP World Tour Rankings can find themselves back on the HotelPlanner Tour.

Anyone who has played a county qualifier knows what it feels like to be one good weekend away from a change of status (and by ‘anyone’, I mean not me).

2026 result

What happened at the 2026 Grand Final

Julien Sale won the tournament. Hamish Brown won the season. Sale closed with a seven-under 65 at Alcanada to finish 22 under, four shots clear of Brown, but second place was enough for Brown to stay top of the Road to Mallorca rankings. Both earned their DP World Tour cards for 2027.

Around the promotion cut-off, Marc Warren's tie for fifth lifted him from 20th to 13th in the season standings. Maxence Giboudot took the fifteenth and final card despite finishing tied 39th on the week, while Matthew Southgate slipped from 15th to 16th and missed out. John Catlin finished fourth in the tournament and climbed from 41st to 19th in the rankings, still short of a card. That's the distinction: four very good rounds can rescue a season, but they don't replace one.

Leaderboard

2026 Grand Final leaderboard

The top five, including ties. Scores are relative to par; T means tied.

Position	Player	Score
1	Julien Sale	-22
2	Hamish Brown	-18
3	MJ Daffue	-17
4	John Catlin	-16
T5	Hurly Long	-15
T5	Lars van der Vight	-15
T5	Marc Warren	-15

Full results: Official Grand Final leaderboard.

Standings

2026 Road to Mallorca final standings

The top 15 in the final season standings, all earning DP World Tour cards for 2027. Points include the Grand Final.

Position	Player	Points
1	Hamish Brown	1,702.07
2	Julien Sale	1,622.61
3	Lars van der Vight	1,308.66
4	Christofer Blomstrand	1,275.90
5	MJ Daffue	1,271.70
6	Pablo Ereño	1,129.23
7	Tapio Pulkkanen	1,065.51
8	Adam Wallin	882.00
9	Liam Nolan	870.18
10	John Gough	865.03
11	Sebastian Friedrichsen	849.13
12	Will Enefer	815.72
13	Marc Warren	771.01
14	Andrew Wilson	762.25
15	Maxence Giboudot	757.53

Full standings: Official season rankings.

Watch

When it is played and where to watch

The Grand Final traditionally takes place around the turn of October and November, running from Thursday to Sunday. Sky Sports covers it live in the UK. Live leaderboards and the final Road to Mallorca Rankings are published on europeantour.com under the HotelPlanner Tour section.

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