Joshua Berry has climbed to second place in the Road to Mallorca Rankings after a sensational two weeks in India.
The Englishman arrived in Kolkata for back-to-back events co-sanctioned with the Professional Golf Tour of India, fresh from a tied seventh finish on the DP World Tour – his best result on Golf’s Global Tour to date - and continued that form across two weeks in India to catapult himself into the promotion mix.
The 19-year-old secured a maiden HotelPlanner Tour title by holing a 20ft birdie putt on the second extra play-off hole in the Kolkata Challenge before going on to finish solo second a week later in Delhi – on that occasion being edged out on the third extra hole.
Berry has now amassed 561 points from five starts this term, and trails only two-time winner this season, Daniel van Tonder (742 points), at the top of the Rankings.
Englishman Jamie Rutherford, who joined the winners circle in February, continued his fine form with a tied 15th finish in Delhi and is the current Number Three on 423 points, 15 points ahead of South African Wilco Nienaber.
Spaniard Quim Vidal was the only player to beat Berry in India as he earned a first HotelPlanner Tour title in dramatic fashion in the Delhi Challenge, a result that saw him rise 27 places to fifth in the Rankings on 398 points. Having led by three strokes going into the final round, Vidal needed an eagle on the 72nd hole to force a play-off with Berry, before going birdie-birdie-birdie in extra-holes to get the job done.
Sam Jones from New Zealand sits in sixth on 295 points, while Austrian Maximilian Steinlechner continued his impressive start to the season by recording back-to-back top tens in India to climb to seventh on 262 points.
Irishman Liam Nolan remains inside the top ten in eighth spot on 240 points, South African Keenan Davidse is ninth on 225, and Austrian Lukas Nemecz (209 points) – after a tied second-place finish in Kolkata and tied 11th in Delhi – completes the top ten.
Dutchman Lars van Meijel and Italian Filippo Celli were the other two big movers following the Delhi Challenge. Van Meijel’s third-place finish in the Indian capital moved him up 33 places to 11th in the Rankings, while Celli, who finished fourth at Classic Golf & Country Club, is up 28 places to 15th
With the leading 20 players securing DP World Tour playing privileges at the end of the 29-event season, Scotsman David Law is currently 20th, and occupies the final promotion place.
The Road to Mallorca takes a two-week break and returns for successive weeks in the UAE, starting with the UAE Challenge taking place at Al Zorah Golf & Yacht Club from April 10-13.
