Sam Jones earns 2024 DP World Tour status

Caption: Taranaki golfer Sam Jones, a two-time CharlesTour winner, who has qualified to play on the DP World Tour. Photo credit: Golf New Zealand. 

Sam Jones has played his way onto the DP World Tour after transitioning into the professional game just over a couple of weeks previously.

The Taranaki rookie professional will join Ryan Fox and Daniel Hillier in Europe next year after finishing seventh at DP World Tour Q-school final stage in Spain, which should see him earn starts in around 20 events.

After moving to the professional game after the Asia-Pacific Amateur in October, Jones raced to Spain to compete in the second stage of qualifying school, where he finished fourth to punch his ticket into the final stage.

He fired rounds of 68, 69, 70 and 65 at Infinitum Golf to make the 72-hole cut at final stage and earn full Challenge Tour status before improving his ranking to category-18 DP World Tour status after shooting 68 and 66 in the final two rounds.

Following a gruelling two weeks of playing for his future, changing flights, and mental stress, Jones said it was hard to put into words what finishing inside the top 25 at final stage so soon into his professional career meant to him.

“I’m pretty speechless to be honest with you,’’ Jones said.

``I had to change my flight to stay in Spain for final stage, so I didn’t really have any expectations – I didn’t think I was going to get through second stage,” he  said with a laugh.

“To be here now after all of that is crazy. Like I said, I’m speechless.”

Aware of the physical impacts 10 rounds of golf in two weeks might have on him, the two-time Charles Tour winner put a lot of thought into where he spent his energy so he’d still perform at his best over the final two rounds when it mattered most.

Although he felt physically fine, Jones said dealing with the mental pressures was the most challenging part.

“I was so nervous [heading into the final round] that it wasn’t even funny. Me being me, I looked at all the details – what kind of category I was going to get and what not.

“Obviously, the starts in the DP World Tour, the increased purses, and everything that comes along with that – I got really nervous heading into the fifth and sixth rounds. I thought I would be able to handle it well, but honestly, it was a grind, and I’m happy to come out the other side of it.”

Now that his playing rights are secured, Jones intends on picking the brains of Fox and Hillier on playing the DP World Tour.