Heartbroken DPWT veteran reveals what cost him his card after 19 years

Pablo Larrazabal believes throwing away a golden opportunity to claim his 10th DP World Tour title led to a remarkable stretch of poor form that resulted in him losing his playing privileges. 

The Spaniard, 43, entered this week's Genesis Championship in South Korea needing to finish in a share of second to keep his DP World Tour card for the 2027 campaign. 

But the nine-time winner fell short of his bid to keep his card for the 20th season in a row, carding consecutive rounds of 73 to miss the cut. 

He will now turn his attention to qualifying school in a few weeks' time and attempt to secure one of just 15 cards on offer in the gruelling six-round event. 

Larrazabal told DP World Tour's official website that missing a putt at the last to win the 2025 Bahrain Championship affected him considerably. 

In 2026 alone, Larrazabal has only made 12 cuts from 27 starts. 

"Well very, very, very tough," he said. "Yeah, just a very tough moment.

"You know, I think I only stayed like 25 weeks, non-category, non-winners category for 19 years and I had to play my worst golf the season that I had to keep my card. 

"But, it's been a tough 20 months. What changed it all was throwing out the 10th victory in Bahrain last year at the beginning of the season, not making the putt on the last win, it was very tough. 

"It took me a while to get through that one. And this year has been tough."

Larrazabal also revealed he was without his regular caddie at the beginning of the season. 

"He had some family problems," he said. "They are sorted finally. Not finding my A-game at any point. 

"And yeah, it's tough, it's a tough moment."

Still, Larrazabal believes there is reason for optimism. 

"It's tough to realise that I'm going to go back to Q- School in 12 days, in 11 days after 19 years without going to Q-School, but my dream job is to play the DP World Tour," he said. 

"It's been for the last 26, 27 years.

"Not too many people in the world can say that they have achieved probably 98, 99 per cent of [their] dreams. 

"But I think I have a couple more years of golf and I think I can still win golf tournaments. 

"But for that, I'm going to have to prepare myself. It's tough to realise all these moments. 

"I cannot put it into words, but you know, it's going to take I have to recover myself.

"I'm very tired. 

"As I said, I played nine of the last 10 weeks and I have to recover my old body to try to play six good rounds in Infinitum and to try to keep the dream alive.

"I think I want to win one more. I want to win. 

"I want to reach double figures and then 100 per cent of my dreams will come true."

Larrazabal wasn't the only established tour pro to leave South Korea upset. 

Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat fought back tears as he lost his card.