Tom Vaillant boosted his bid to qualify for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship with a career-best result on the Race to Dubai on home soil at the FedEx Open de France.
Since graduating from the HotelPlanner Tour in 2023, the Frenchman has retained his playing privileges but he has not appeared at the DP World Tour Play-Offs, held across back-to-back weeks in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
But backed on by the French faithful at Le Golf National, Vaillant enjoyed a week to remember as he played his way into Sunday's final group at the 2018 Ryder Cup venue before a closing 70 saw him finish in a tie for third alongside countryman Matthieu Pavon, Eugenio Chacarra and Kristoffer Reitan as Matt Fitzpatrick won by three shots from Spain's Angel Hidalgo.
The performance saw the 24-year-old climb 25 places to 59th on the Race to Dubai Rankings Delivered by DP World, with the top 70 available qualifying players making the Abu Dhabi Championship and the top 50 appearing at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
Another player to close in on the top 50 was Guido Migliozzi with the Italian climbing 13 places on the season-long standings after finishing in a share of seventh place at a venue he won one of his four DP World Tour titles at in 2022.
Angel Hidalgo secured his spot in Dubai in November by finishing runner-up on the outskirts of the French capital as the Spaniard continued his good form across the Back 9, including another top-five finish at the Omega European Masters. He also claimed a spot at next year's Open Championship as the top-performing player not otherwise exempt.
Chacarra gained 237.40 Rankings points with his third-place finish to close within 300 points of Rory McIlroy and 600 of Race to Dubai leader Patrick Reed, and he will have another chance to work away at those deficits this week at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Following his tie for 11th in France, England's Joe Dean is in possession of the tenth and final dual membership card on the PGA Tour.
Brandon Stone was another to enjoy a productive week, finishing tied seventh to climb 16 places to 88th with the top 100 retaining a full DP World Tour card for the 2027 season.
To view the Race to Dubai Rankings, click here.
