Dubai's Garrick Porteous books his spot in Scandinavian Mixed
Englishman had been set to travel to Spain before finishing inside the top ten in Germany
Nobody likes to change travel plans last minute.
But Dubai-based professional golfer will be filled with joy that he needed to change his itinerary, despite originally planning to visit Spain instead of Sweden this week.
The reason for the change in destinations?
A top ten finish at the DP World Tour’s European Open at the weekend, which ensured the Trump Dubai member secured his spot in this week’s Scandinavian Mixed.
With Porteous’ exemption category on the DP World Tour not being the greatest for playing opportunities, the Englishman didn’t have a spot for the innovative event in Sweden, which pits men and women against each other in the same tournament.
Instead, he had been set to travel to Cádiz in Spain to compete on the Challenge Tour’s Challenge de Cadiz.
But a final round 70 at Green Eagle Golf Courses, which included six birdies, saw him surge from 20th to a share of eighth at the European Open to ensure he secured a place in Sweden, with the top ten guaranteed a spot.
“Brilliant week at the DP World Tour for the European Open,” Porteous posted on Instagram.
“The green monster played up to its name! Battled hard for a top 10.”
That late surge means he is now playing for a prize pot of $2.5m at Vasatorps Golfklubb rather than roughly $300,000 at Iberostar Real Golf Novo Sancti Petri.
The result, which was Porteous’ first top ten on the DP World Tour since 2021, moved the 34-year-old up 37 places to 148th in the Race to Dubai Rankings.
Currently only the top 113 players will retain their playing privileges following the Genesis Championship in South Korea at the end of October.
Porteous does also have the back-up of trying to retain playing rights for the 2025 DP World Tour through the Challenge Tour, where he is in a healthy position after winning the Abu Dhabi Challenge at Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club earlier this year.
He is currently ranked 13th on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, with the top 20 securing a DP World Tour card following the Challenge Tour Grand Final in November.