Lombard leads field after 90 holes Final Stage Q School..

 Zander Lombard looks set to regain DP World Tour playing privileges after extending his lead to seven shots with one round remaining of Final Stage Qualifying School at INFINITUM.

The South African, who eased into a six-shot lead on day four, carried that dominance into the penultimate round in Tarragona to end the day out in front on -29, seven clear of Australian Connor McKinney, who holds solo second on -22.

Lombard hit the top of the leaderboard for the first time on day three, and has remained the pacesetter ever since, with rounds of 64-69-67-64 and a -7 64 on day five seeing him move into a commanding position with 18 holes to play.

The 30-year-old birdied his opening two holes on day five, and added another gain at the fifth to turn in three under par. Back-to-back birdies on hole ten and 11 followed, and despite his only dropped shot of the day coming on the 16th, he responded by finishing birdie-eagle on the Lakes Course to remain in control.

The 30-year-old is in pole position to secure DP World Tour playing privileges through Qualifying School for the second time in his career, having achieved the same feat at INFINITUM in 2018.

“It was really solid stuff tee to green,” he said. “Finishing birdie-eagle was a nice way to cap off the day.

“It's been stress-free golf. I'm hitting a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, and the pace on my putting is good, so even from range, it looks like it's had a chance to go in and if it doesn't, it's just a tap in.

“Conditions are quite a bit different to when I did it in 2018, but it's still the same golf course, and I feel comfortable on it and I’m producing the stuff I need to. Hopefully I can keep it going for one more day.

American Davis Bryant and Zimbabwe’s Benjamin Follett-Smith share third place on -21 with Daniel Rodrigues from Portugal, India’s Shubhankar Sharma and Frenchman Quentin Debove two shots further back in fifth at -19

edit >>>> Canada's Aaron Cockerill 67 is in a group with England's Matthew Baldwin 68 and Nathan Kimsey 67, also Norway's Andreas Halvorsen 66 all at -18

At the conclusion of tomorrow’s sixth and final round, the leading 20 players and ties will earn DP World Tour playing privileges (Category 18) for the 2026 season.

The final round of DP World Tour Final Stage Qualifying School gets under way tomorrow at 9:00am local time, with Lombard teeing off alongside McKinney and Bryant at 10:44am.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)