Comfortably outside the top 70, at first glance it would appear both need high finishes from their trip to the Delhi Golf Club to keep alive their seasons. But, in fact, they are already assured of their places in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
This is due to a little publicised but pragmatic loophole whereby members of Europe’s Ryder Cup team are also considered eligible for next month’s closing tournaments.
Fleetwood, who won the PGA Tour’s play-offs with his stirring victory at August’s Tour Championship in Atlanta, lies 94th in the European tour’s season-long table. Lowry, who sank the putt that retained the Ryder Cup, is 155th.
Other European team-mates who can potentially benefit are Ludvig Aberg (72nd) and Sepp Straka (147th).
This might question the integrity of a play-off system, which by definition is supposed to bring cut-throat competitive jeopardy, but this scenario also illustrates realities faced by the Wentworth-based DP World Tour.
They are reliant on big backers such as DP World, who are also the title sponsors of this week’s event in India. They need the biggest stars at their biggest events to justify the investment, which runs to millions of dollars.
Fleetwood has enjoyed one of his most successful seasons, capped by his first win on American soil at East Lake just under two months ago.
He is one of European golf’s superstars and, frankly, it would be unthinkable to stage the 2025 season finale without him.
Common sense trumps competitive integrity, even though the world number five – a Dubai resident – has reserved his best performances for events that do not count on his home tour.
Fleetwood has so far played only four DP World Tour events and failed to finish in the top 20 at any of them; the Dubai Desert Classic, Scottish Open, BMW PGA Championship or Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
The majors also count on the Race to Dubai and his share of 16th at the Open was his only top 20 in the big four tournaments. But on the American-based circuit he enjoyed seven top-five finishes.
Fleetwood was also Europe’s top points scorer at Bethpage last month. It would be absurd for him not to be taking his place alongside the tour’s leading stars at the end of the season.
While in the past the PGA and European tours were deadly rivals they are now inextricably linked thanks to the strategic alliance that underpins DP World Tour prize funds.
While Marco Penge, last week’s winner of the Open De Espana, has moved into McIlroy’s wing mirrors as his closest rival at the top of the Race to Dubai, much of the interest for the rest of the season will have an American bias.
The narrative will be driven by the scramble for 10 places on the PGA Tour for those who do not already have playing rights in the US. Penge, with three DPWT wins, is assured of what is widely regarded as ‘promotion’ to the US circuit.
The Clitheroe-based pro, who also guaranteed invites to the Masters and Open with his Spanish success, is not in the India field but will mount a final push to try to overhaul McIlroy at the top of the standings.
And Dan Brown, the man Penge beat in the Madrid play-off, is one of four other Britons in the thick of the battle for a 2026 PGA card.
Yorkshireman John Parry and the Bath duo of Jordan Smith and Laurie Canter also currently occupy spots that would yield a golden ticket for next year.
Some observers see this scenario as evidence that the DP World Tour is now nothing more than a feeder for big brother on the other side of the pond.
But the DP World Tour argue it is a vital mechanism that underpins their schedule, a necessary and enticing element that maximises playing opportunities for its members.
Certainly this is the time of the year where the realities and compromises of men’s professional golf seem at their most evident.
