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Rory McIlroy ventures into new territory by competing in India this week as he makes his comeback to competition for the first time since the Ryder Cup.

While the golf superstar expands his golfing horizons, the European golf circuit begins the closing stage of this year's Race to Dubai. McIlroy is in pole position to claim the annual championship for the fourth season running and seventh time overall.

There are only three more events after the India Championship; the subsequent week's Genesis Championship in South Korea - which concludes the second half of the tour calendar - and then the final two tournaments in the Middle East.

These high-stakes playoff tournaments in Abu Dhabi and the emirate are reserved for the leading seventy and then top 50 in the season rankings.

However for the likes of Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry, who are also in this tournament lineup in the subcontinent, there is reduced stress than one would expect.

Comfortably outside the seventieth position, at first glance it would appear both require high finishes from their visit to the Delhi Golf Club to keep alive their campaigns. Yet, actually, they are already assured of their places in the UAE and the final event.

This is due to a rarely discussed but pragmatic exception whereby members of the European squad are also deemed qualified for next month's closing tournaments.

The English golfer, who won the PGA Tour's play-offs with his impressive victory at August's Tour Championship in Georgia, sits 94th in the European tour's season-long table. Lowry, who sank the winning stroke that secured the Ryder Cup, is 155th.

Additional squad members who can potentially benefit are Aberg (72nd) and Straka (one hundred forty-seventh).

This might challenge 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 headquartered European circuit.

They are dependent on big backers such as DP World, who are also the title sponsors of this current tournament in the Asian nation. The tour requires the top players at their biggest events to justify the financial commitment, which amounts to substantial funding.

Fleetwood has enjoyed one of his most successful seasons, highlighted by his first win on American soil at East Lake just under eight weeks past.

He is one of European golf's superstars and, frankly, it would be inconceivable to stage the upcoming season climax without him.

Common sense overrides pure competition, even though the world number five - a local resident - has saved his strongest showings for events that do not count on his domestic circuit.

The Englishman has to date played only four European tournaments and failed to place in the top 20 at any of them; the Dubai Desert Classic, UK tournament, flagship event or Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Major championships also contribute on the season standings and his sixteenth-place finish at the Open was his only top 20 in the major events. But on the US tour he achieved seven placements in the top five.

The European star was also the team's highest contributor at the New York course last month. It would be absurd for him not to be taking his place alongside the circuit's top performers at the end of the season.

Although in the previous era the American and European circuits were fierce competitors they are now inextricably linked thanks to the cooperative partnership that supports DP World Tour prize funds.

While the English golfer, recent champion of the Spanish Open, has positioned himself in close pursuit as his nearest challenger at the top of the Race to Dubai, much of the attention for the rest of the season will have an US focus.

The storyline will be shaped by the competition for ten spots on the PGA Tour for those who do not already have tour cards in the United States. Penge, with three DPWT wins, is assured of what is generally considered as 'promotion' to the US circuit.

The Lancashire golfer, who also guaranteed invitations to the Augusta National and Open with his Madrid victory, is not in the India field but will launch a last effort to try to overhaul McIlroy at the top of the rankings.

Meanwhile the English competitor, the man the champion beat in the Madrid play-off, is one of four other Britons in the thick of the competition 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 the coming season.

Certain analysts view this development as evidence that the DP World Tour is now essentially a feeder for the larger circuit on the other side of the pond.

But the DP World Tour maintain it is a vital mechanism that supports their schedule, a necessary and attractive feature that maximises competitive chances for its members.

Certainly this is the time of the year where the realities and necessary adjustments of elite golf competition seem at their most evident.