Connor McKinney has qualified to play on the DP World Tour in 2026.
WHAT do you do after successfully negotiating 252 holes of pressure golf and fulfilling a lifetime dream of playing on the DP World Tour? For young Perth professional Connor McKinney the answer was simple – jet to Bali with your best mate and learn how to surf.
McKinney, a 23-year-old former Scot who relocated to Western Australia with his parents a decade ago, had showed considerable promise before lining up in the first stage of DP World Tour Q School in Belgium in September.
Before turning professional, he’d won the Australian Amateur and the St Andrews Links Trophy in 2022, played on Europe’s modest HotelPlanner Tour last year, shot a rare 59 in last year’s Gippsland Super 6 at Warragul, and in August claimed his first professional victory on Scotland’s Tartan Tour.
But none of that was any indication of what the young man was about to achieve when he set out on his fourth attempt to make it onto the DP World Tour through Q School.
He finished fifth at his first stage qualifier in Belgium in September, with a five-under-par total for 72 holes, which qualified him for Stage 2 in Spain a few weeks later. The competition there was tougher, but he again finished fifth after a four-round total of 12-under-par.
That got him into the gruelling six-round Final Stage at Spain’s Infinitum golf course, where he kicked off with a blemish-free nine-under-par 62 which saw him lead the pack after the first day. He played steadily from there, making light of one of professional golf’s most challenging environments.
McKinney finished the marathon at 24-under-par, claiming second place in the Final Stage qualifier, with exempt status going to the top 20 players.
To give some sort of context to his performance, McKinney was 41 under par after his 14 rounds of qualifying, breaking par 12 times and returning only one score over par – his second round 73 in the Final Stage.
His game in good shape, McKinney’s focus throughout the Final Stage was on staying fit and fresh.
Connor McKinney (right) and his caddy celebrate their success at Q School.
“My real goal was just on recovery,” he said. “I hit balls a couple of days, just like 20 balls after the round and I’d just go straight into the truck and do stretching, do some movement stuff and just get the body feeling as good as possible for the next day.
“I’d had that Q School circled since January,” McKinney said as he prepared to play in the Australian PGA at Royal Queensland, his first start on the DP World Tour as a member. “It was kind of just a good progression.
“It started in Australia, all the way along to when I played Tartan Tour in Scotland and I just felt like every round I was just improving. After a pretty horrific season last year. I had to build myself back up.”
McKinney, a member of Joondalup Country Club, began the year with no status on any tour, something that, in hindsight, he believes might have been a blessing. “Not having to go from Australia and go and play 25 events on the Challenge Tour,” he said.
“It worked out pretty good. At the time, you think it’s the end of the world, but when you have a bit of time to decompress and go, this is my plan for the year, I’m going to get better at this. And every month it was just a good progression.”
McKinney said his status on the DP World Tour would guarantee starts in as many as 22 tournaments – more, obviously, if he performs well. He planned on playing in Mauritius before taking a month off over Christmas and New Year, then re-joining the tour.
But, as bright as his golf future is now looking, McKinney is just as excited about his prowess in the surf. He took surf lessons when he and his caddy flew to Bali to recuperate from the ordeal of Final Stage Q School qualifying.
“It was awesome,” he said. “After about five waves, they told me to jump off the wave half-way, or I’d have to spend 20 minutes paddling all the way out again.
“But on the last wave I got all the way into shore standing up.”
