WA’s McKinney tops DP World Tour Q-School

September 11th, 2022 / Nigel Yeoman

Western Australia’s Connor McKinney continues to impress with a massive five-shot victory in the third event of the first stage of the DP World Tour Q-School in Palmela, Portugal.

Australians have now topped two of the first three Stage One Q-School events, which have been on hiatus due to COVID-19 restrictions since 2019.

Connor McKinney Connor McKinney (Credit: Golf Australia)

McKinney, the reigning Australian Amateur champion, and Mandurah Country Club’s Braden Becker will join the seven Aussies who qualified at Rosebud last month at the Second Stage of Q-School on November 3rd.

McKinney fired rounds of 63, 67, 64 and 69 for a 25-under total at the Montado Hotel and Golf Resort to head off runner-up Joel Moscatel Nachshon by five strokes on 20-under. Becker closed on 14-under and 11 shots off the pace in a share of 9th place – two shots inside the qualifying mark.

There are six events remaining in First Stage qualifying with Aussies Simon Hawkes (Royal Hobart), Hayden Hopewell (Royal Fremantle), Elvis Smylie (Southport GC) and Lazim Medini (Southern GC) all lining up for a chance to earn a DP World Tour card in the coming weeks.