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Rory McIlroy breaks new ground by competing in India this week as he returns to action for the initial occasion since the prestigious team event.

While the Northern Irishman widens his competitive experience, the DP World Tour begins the final phase of this year's season-long championship. The world-class golfer is in pole position to claim the season-long title for the fourth consecutive year and seventh time overall.

There are only three additional tournaments after the Indian event; the subsequent week's Genesis Championship in South Korea - which concludes the 'Back Nine' phase of the tour calendar - and then the final two tournaments in the Middle East.

These big money playoff tournaments in Abu Dhabi and Dubai are exclusively available for the leading seventy and then leading fifty in the season rankings.

However for players such as Tommy Fleetwood and Lowry, who are also in this tournament lineup in India, there is less pressure than one would expect.

Comfortably outside the seventieth position, at first glance it would appear both need strong performances from their visit to the Indian course to extend their campaigns. Yet, in fact, they are guaranteed in advance of their positions in the UAE and Dubai.

This is due to a rarely discussed but pragmatic exception whereby members of Europe's Ryder Cup team are also deemed qualified for the upcoming closing tournaments.

Fleetwood, who triumphed in the PGA Tour's play-offs with his impressive win at the season-ending event in Atlanta, sits ninety-fourth in the European tour's annual rankings. Lowry, who made the winning stroke that retained the Ryder Cup, is 155th.

Other squad members who can also qualify are Aberg (72nd) and Straka (147th).

This could question the integrity of a play-off system, which by definition is intended to bring intense competitive jeopardy, but this situation also illustrates realities faced by the headquartered DP World Tour.

The tour is reliant on big backers such as DP World, who are also the naming sponsors of this current tournament in the Asian nation. The tour requires the top players at their biggest events to validate the investment, which runs to substantial funding.

Fleetwood has experienced one of his best campaigns, highlighted by his maiden victory on American soil at the Atlanta course just under eight weeks past.

Fleetwood represents one of the continent's elite players and, frankly, it would be inconceivable to stage the upcoming season climax without him.

Practical considerations overrides pure competition, even though the top-ranked player - a Dubai resident - has reserved his best performances for events that do not count on his home tour.

The Englishman has to date played only four DP World Tour events and been unable to place in the top 20 at any tournament; the Dubai Desert Classic, Scottish Open, flagship event or pro-am competition.

The majors also contribute on the Race to Dubai and his sixteenth-place finish at the Open was his sole high finish in the major events. But on the US tour he achieved seven top-five finishes.

Fleetwood was also Europe's top points scorer at the New York course last month. It would be ridiculous for him not to be taking his place with the circuit's top performers at the conclusion of the campaign.

Although in the past the PGA and European tours were deadly rivals they are now closely connected thanks to the strategic alliance that underpins European tour financial rewards.

As Marco Penge, last week's winner of the Spanish Open, has positioned himself in McIlroy's wing mirrors as his nearest challenger at the summit of the Race to Dubai, much of the attention for the rest of the season will have an US focus.

The narrative will be shaped by the scramble for 10 places on the American circuit for those who do not currently possess tour cards in the United States. Penge, with three European victories, is guaranteed of what is widely regarded as advancement to the American tour.

The Clitheroe-based pro, who also guaranteed invites to the Masters and British Open with his Spanish success, is not in the tournament lineup but will launch a last effort to try to overtake McIlroy at the peak of the rankings.

And the English competitor, the man Penge beat in the Spanish playoff, is one of four other Britons in the midst of the battle for a 2026 PGA card.

Northern golfer Parry and the West Country pair of Smith and Canter also currently occupy positions that would provide a golden ticket for the coming season.

Certain analysts see this scenario as evidence that the DP World Tour is now essentially a development tour for the larger circuit on the other side of the pond.

However the organization maintain it is a crucial system that supports their tour calendar, a necessary and attractive element that optimizes competitive chances for its participants.

Undoubtedly this is the season period where the realities and compromises of men's professional golf seem at their most evident.