Amateur golf

Q school final stage infinitum 2026

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Six rounds, 156 players, fifteen tickets.

Golf has plenty of grand occasions, but few as brutal as the Final Stage of DP World Tour Qualifying School, which got under way this morning at INFINITUM, a Costa Dorada resort better known to most of us as a stop on our Spain golf holidays than as a place where careers are decided. Over six days and 108 holes, 156 players will chase a place on the 2027 DP World Tour, and most of them will go home without one. Think of it as the monthly medal with a mortgage riding on it. (Golf Magic)

Dawn on the Lakes course at INFINITUM, Costa Dorada

How the Week Works

The field plays two rounds on each of the Lakes and Hills courses, then a cut after 72 holes trims it to the low 60 and ties. Whoever survives plays the last 36 holes on the Lakes. (AmateurGolf.com)

The top 15 and ties earn DP World Tour membership and full HotelPlanner Tour status for 2027, while places 16 to 40 settle for a lesser HotelPlanner Tour category. Last year there were 20 cards on offer. The arithmetic has not improved. (AmateurGolf.com; DP World Tour)

Familiar Faces in the Queue

This is no field of hopeful unknowns. Thomas Pieters, a six-time DP World Tour winner and former Ryder Cup player, is back at Q-School for the first time since 2013 after leaving LIV Golf. He is also the only Rolex Series winner in the field. (Golf Magic)

Spain’s Pablo Larrazábal, a nine-time winner, lost his full playing rights last month and is chasing a 20th season on Tour. Germany’s Marcel Siem has 594 Tour appearances to his name, and England’s Ross Fisher is here too. Experience, it turns out, is no exemption. (Golf Magic)

Four Amateurs With a Decision to Make

Four amateurs have made it this far. Argentina’s Mateo Pulcini and America’s Dean Greyserman came through Second Stage at Fontanals, near Girona, while Nathan Wang (USA) and Segundo Oliva Pinto (Argentina) arrived via the Global Amateur Pathway. (AmateurGolf.com)

Any of them who finishes high enough will have to turn professional to take up the prize. As dilemmas go, it is a nice one to have. (AmateurGolf.com)

The Courses Doing the Sorting

INFINITUM, which golfers of a certain vintage will remember as Lumine, has 45 holes, all opened in 2008. Greg Norman’s Lakes course, a par 71 of 6,317 metres from the back tees, threads its way around the Sèquia Major wetlands and had a €1.5 million renovation in 2024. (DP World Tour; GolfPass)

Tee and water on the Lakes course at INFINITUM, Costa Dorada

The Hills course is halfway through a redesign by European Golf Design: the back nine is finished, and work on the front nine starts once the professionals have gone home. There is also the nine-hole Ruins course, laid out among Roman remains. Few practice grounds come with their own archaeology. (DP World Tour)

Hills course at INFINITUM with the sea in the backgroundFairway on the Ruins course at INFINITUM
Playing It Yourself

The resort sits about 11 kilometres from Reus airport and roughly 100 kilometres from Barcelona. Tarragona, a UNESCO World Heritage city with its own Roman amphitheatre, is only minutes away. (European Tour Destinations)

Stay at the Blaumar in Salou or the Gran Palas Hotel in Tarragona, take on the Lakes and the Hills, then finish with something in romesco, the sauce Tarragona proudly claims as its own. Nobody will be checking your scorecard for a tour card.

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Browse our Costa Dorada golf holidays and play the Lakes with nothing but pride at stake.

Two Tournaments, One Fortnight: La Cala’s Busy End to the Season

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The Ladies European Tour’s season finale, a sold-out amateur week and one very busy river.

If a late-autumn golf holiday in Spain is on the cards, La Cala Resort in the hills above Mijas has the liveliest fortnight of the season to offer. First the Ladies European Tour arrives to settle its season on the Europa course.

Fairway on the Europa course at La Cala Resort, Mijas, with the Sierra de Mijas behind

Then, almost before the grandstands come down, a field of amateurs takes over all three courses for the XXI La Cala Golf World Open. The professionals play for a €700,000 prize fund. The amateurs play for handicap prizes, a nearest-the-pin and the right to mention it at every dinner party until next November.

The Season Ends on the Europa Course

The Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España presented by Oysho runs from 26 to 29 November 2026. It closes the LET schedule with a 75-player field, with both the title and the Order of Merit still to be decided. (Ladies European Tour)

It is La Cala’s first time as host. The championship moves around the Costa del Sol and spent the past two years at Real Guadalhorce, where Nastasia Nadaud of France won last year aged 21 — her first European title, and the youngest win in the event’s history. (Andalucía Golf)

Three Amateurs Among the Professionals

The organisers have invited three amateurs into the field: Paula Balanzategui, the reigning Spanish Women’s Amateur champion, Balma Dávalos from Castellón and Anna Cañadó, who plays college golf at Duke University. (Official Press)

Nobody should treat them as passengers. In 2022 the amateur Cayetana Fernández finished fifth in this championship, and plenty of seasoned professionals spent the weekend looking at her back. (Andalucía.com)

What the Field Will Face

Cabell B. Robinson designed all three of La Cala’s courses. On paper the Europa is the most forgiving of them — generous fairways, flatter ground, around 6,014 metres and par 71. The catch is the River Ojén, which crosses eight holes, with water guarding the 3rd and 14th greens for good measure.

The 10th Hole at La Cala Europa golf course

The layout rewards precise approach play over raw length, and the greens are undulating enough to demand a careful read. Forgiving is a relative term when a river keeps turning up. (Andalucía Golf)

Then the Amateurs Take Over

The World Open runs from 30 November to 5 December: 54 holes of individual handicap Stableford across the America, Asia and Europa courses, with 09:30 shotgun starts. A Texas Scramble opens the week, and a gala dinner, prize-giving and closing party finish it. Men and women of any age with a handicap can enter, though prizes go only to men up to 26.4 and women up to 36.4.

La Cala Asia Golf CourseLa Cala America golf course

The 2026 edition is fully booked. This is the twenty-first year, which suggests the people who go tend to come back. Anyone who fancies a place should aim for 2027 and register their interest early.

A Resort Spruced Up for the Occasion

La Cala Golf & Spa Resort has just finished a €5 million upgrade: a 50-metre tunnel linking the America and Europa courses, a new bypass road with two roundabouts, new buggy paths on the Asia and car parking almost doubled, from 173 to 333 spaces. (Andalucía Golf)

La Cala Golf & Spa Resort hotel above the courses in Mijas, Costa del Sol

The 107-room hotel was named was named Spain’s Best Golf Hotel at the World Golf Awards. Málaga Airport is about 30 minutes away, Marbella 20. (IAGTO)

Watch One Day, Play the Next

Tickets for the championship are on sale through openfemenino.com, and the dates make for a very civilised short break. Follow the leaders round the Europa on Saturday, then take on the Asia — the course professionals rate most highly of the three — on Sunday. You will at least know where the river is.

And if the World Open’s sell-out has left a gap in the diary, La Cala runs its own competitions through the year, from a St Patrick’s Day tournament in March to the Cudeca charity cup in May.

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Browse our Costa del Sol golf holidays and watch Europe’s best on the Europa before playing it yourself.

Spain Completes Historic Amateur Golf Treble in a Single Weekend

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Three teams. Three finals. Three European titles.

Victorious Spanish Amateur Golfers

Spanish amateur golf produced one of its finest weekends on record. Three national squads contested three separate European Team Championships, in three different countries, and all three returned home with gold. The wins span three generations of Spanish golfers — senior women, junior women, and junior men — and confirm the strength of a development system that keeps producing teams capable of winning at the highest level.

A Fourth Straight Podium for the Senior Women

A Fourth Straight Podium for the Senior Women

The Spanish women’s national team retained its European Team Championship title, beating Ireland and Finland before defeating France 5-2 in the final, played in Ireland. Andrea Revuelta, Paula Martín, Cayetana Fernández, Paula Francisco, Balma Dávalos and Paula Balanzategui made up the winning side. It is Spain’s third title in the last four editions, its eighth overall, and its twelfth podium finish in nineteen years, according to the Real Federación Española de Golf.

Back-to-Back Gold for the Under-18 Women

Repeat Champions, under 18 women

In Switzerland, the Spanish Under-18 women’s team topped qualifying, beat Sweden and the Czech Republic, then edged a tight final against England. Nagore Martínez, Adriana García Terol, Carolina Pérez-Tasso, Amanda Revuelta, Ángela Revuelta and Carlota López delivered Spain’s second consecutive gold in the category and its eleventh European title overall — the most of any nation in the competition’s history.

Home Advantage Delivers for the Under-18 Men

Under 18's also amongst the winners

The third title was won on home soil, at Montecastillo in Jerez de la Frontera. Gonzalo Baños, Nicolás Vidal, Mateo Hidalgo, Yago Horno, Raúl Gómez and Samuel Love led qualifying and beat England in the final, winning both the morning and afternoon foursomes sessions. A bunker shot from Gonzalo Baños on the 18th hole sealed the title in front of the home crowd — Spain’s eighth Under-18 men’s European title, placing the country level with England and Scotland at the top of the all-time standings.

A Result Built Beyond the Scorecard

Three titles, three generations, one weekend. Behind the results sit the players — but also the captains, coaches, physiotherapists, clubs, regional federations and families who support them year-round. Spanish amateur golf has rarely looked stronger. What comes next may be more exciting still.


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