Domestic order of merit champion in 2025, Yuvraj Sandhu made his first DP World Tour cut at the Turkish Airlines Open in Belek, Antalya. on Friday. Image courtesy DP World PGTI.
By Rahul Banerji
Yuvraj Sandhu made his first cut on the DP World Tour, entering the money rounds at the Turkish Airlines Open in Antalya inside the top 10 on Friday.
Playing his maiden DPWT season, the 2025 DP World PGTI order of merit topper had rounds of 3 under par 69 and 1 under 71 at the National Golf Club in Belek to share seventh place with four others on 4 under 140.
They were three shots behind event leader Gregorio De Leo of Italy (69-68).
Also making it to the weekend was DPWT regular Shubhankar Sharma at 1 over 145 (70-75).
On Friday, Sandhu played steady golf, swapping four birdies for three bogies, while Sharma dropped five shots in as many holes to make the cut on the line with three bogies and a double.
Sandhu birdied holes four, eight, 11 and 14 while dropping shots on seven, 13 and 17.
De Leo led the field by a stroke on 7 under 137 with five birdies and one bogey in his second round 68.
The 26-year-old was briefly joined by afternoon starters Alejandro Del Rey and Jens Dantorp, but both dropped into a tie for second alongside Kazuma Kobori and Sam Bairstow on 6 under 138.
First-timer
De Leo holds his first 36-hole lead on the DP World Tour and is now chasing a maiden win after regaining playing rights at Qualifying School.
First-round leader Mikael Lindberg was sole sixth on 5 under 139, while defending champion Martin Couvra was among those to make the cut on the number at 145.
Last month, Sharma flattened the field in a rare home appearance at the Boulders Classic in Hyderabad with a 25 under total.
It was eight shots better than the rest, underlining the gap between the domestic tour and the international circuit.
It also highlighted the pressure past DP World PGTI merit toppers Manu Gandas (2023), Om Prakash Chouhan (2024) and Veer Ahlawat (2025) have faced on graduating to the European circuit.
In his 2023 DPWT season, Gandas made seven cuts from his 25 starts. Chouhan made one cut in 20 DPWT starts in 2024 and Ahlawat made the weekend rounds on 11 occasions at 20 events in 2025.
Critical change
One reason for this was the late start by each of the three as the DPWT schedule tees off in November while the domestic order of merit is decided only in end December.
Just going by the 2026 schedule, that is as many as five lucrative events missed annually by the DP World PGTI graduate and there is talk of reworking the domestic calendar to decide the merit winner by October from this year onwards.
If that happens, it will go some way in levelling the field for DP World PGTI season toppers simply by giving them more opportunities to display their ability on the European circuit
Also read: Justin Rose to make Delhi debut at DP World India Championship
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