Ryder Cup hopeful loses DP World Tour card at Genesis Championship
Genesis Championship R2 Scores: Eight players including home favourite Sungjae Im hit the front in South Korea, but there's no such luck for Germany's Yannik Paul who loses his DP World Tour card.
Pos | Player Name | Score | R1 | R2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | SONG, Minhyuk | -6 | 69 | 67 |
| FITZPATRICK, Alex | -6 | 69 | 67 |
| VAILLANT, Tom | -6 | 67 | 69 |
| ELVIRA, Nacho | -6 | 68 | 68 |
| IM, Sungjae | -6 | 69 | 67 |
| HILLIER, Daniel | -6 | 67 | 69 |
| LI, Haotong | -6 | 65 | 71 |
| LEE, Junghwan | -6 | 71 | 65 |
9 | PAVAN, Andrea | -5 | 69 | 68 |
| SULLIVAN, Andy | -5 | 68 | 69 |
KIM, MK | -5 | 65 | 72 | |
| KATSURAGAWA, Yuto | -5 | 71 | 66 |
| BAE, Yongjun | -5 | 68 | 69 |
| APHIBARNRAT, Kiradech | -5 | 70 | 67 |
Eight players including home favourite Sungjae Im moved into a share of the lead at the Genesis Championship in South Korea, on a day where former Ryder Cup hopeful Yannik Paul lost his DP World Tour card - offering a stark reminder of just how quickly things can turn in this game.
Paul, 31, was a lead contender at one stage to earn one of Luke Donald's six captain's picks on the 2023 European Ryder Cup team in Rome.
The German won his first DP World Tour title at the Mallorca Golf Open in October 2022 and then followed it up with back to back runner-up finishes at the Thailand Classic and Hero Indian Open in February 2023.
He then further stamped his credentials with a solo third at the Scandinavian Mixed and a pair of top-10s at the Betfred British Masters and Czech Masters over the summer.
But Paul would come up shy of a captain's pick and end up finishing a respectable 22nd on the Race to Dubai standings in 2023.
After falling short of a debut Ryder Cup appearance, Paul's game appeared to dip in 2024 as he finished 47th in the Race to Dubai.
Paul endured low back pain throughout the 2025 season, something Tiger Woods can attest to, and it led to him losing his DP World Tour card.
He missed the cut at the Genesis Championship, the final regular event of the season, and it marked the 12th time all season he had failed to progress to the weekend.
Paul will now head to Q-School in order to try and get back on the DP World Tour - albeit that will reward him with just limited starts on the circuit.
Should he be unsuccessful there then he will be back on the HotelPlanner Tour for 2026.
"Last night I was pretty disappointed," said Paul, reflecting on losing his DP World Tour card.
"Today wasn't the main issue - I had all season to play good enough. I had a bit of a slow start and had a good finish until the summer break, was kind of cruising, didn't really get much out of it, then three months it goes quickly.
"I don't really know what to say, it is what it is. Obviously disappointed."
On heading to Q-School, Paul said: "Yeah off to Q-School, but no matter where you finish there I don't think you
Watch Paul's comments in full below:
Elsewhere, Andrew 'Beef' Johnston, who made his comeback return on the DP World Tour, made birdie on the par-5 18th to make the cut on the number at 1-over par.
At the top of the leaderboard thru 36 holes, South Korea's home favourite Sungjae Im finds himself in a logjam eight-way tie for the lead at 6-under par.
He's joined by Minhyuk Song, Alex Fitzpatrick, Tom Vaillant, Nacho Elvira, Daniel Hillier, Haotong Li and Junghwan Lee.
Andy Roberts first joined GolfMagic on a month's work experience back in April 2011.
Andy then assumed the role of GolfMagic Editor in 2015.
