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Rory McIlroy breaks new ground by playing in the Indian tournament this week as he makes his comeback to action for the initial occasion since the Ryder Cup.

As the golf superstar widens his golfing horizons, the European golf circuit enters the final phase of this year's Race to Dubai. McIlroy is in pole position to secure the annual championship for the fourth season running and seventh occasion in total.

This includes only three more events after the India Championship; the subsequent week's Genesis Championship in South Korea - which concludes the 'Back Nine' phase of the schedule - and then the final two tournaments in the Middle East.

These high-stakes playoff tournaments in Abu Dhabi and the emirate are exclusively available for the leading seventy and then leading fifty in the season rankings.

However for players such as Fleetwood and Lowry, who are also in this week's field in India, there is reduced stress than you might imagine.

Comfortably outside the seventieth position, at initial inspection it would seem both need high finishes from their visit to the Delhi Golf Club to extend their campaigns. Yet, actually, they are guaranteed in advance of their places in the UAE and the final event.

This is due to a rarely discussed but pragmatic loophole whereby members of Europe's Ryder Cup team are also considered qualified for next month's closing tournaments.

The English golfer, who won the PGA Tour's play-offs with his stirring victory at the season-ending event in Atlanta, lies ninety-fourth in the European tour's annual rankings. Lowry, who made the winning stroke that secured the Ryder Cup, is one hundred fifty-fifth.

Other European team-mates who can potentially benefit are Ludvig Aberg (72nd) and Sepp Straka (one hundred forty-seventh).

This might challenge the integrity of a playoff structure, which by nature is supposed to bring intense competitive jeopardy, but this situation also demonstrates realities faced by the Wentworth-based DP World Tour.

The tour is dependent on big backers such as the title partner, who are also the title sponsors of this current tournament in India. The tour requires the top players at their biggest events to justify the financial commitment, which runs to millions of dollars.

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

He is one of the continent's elite players and, frankly, it would be unthinkable to stage the 2025 season finale without him.

Common sense trumps competitive integrity, even though the top-ranked player - a Dubai resident - has saved his strongest showings for events that do not qualify on his home tour.

The Englishman has so far played only four European tournaments and been unable to place in the top 20 at any of them; the Dubai Desert Classic, Scottish Open, BMW PGA Championship or pro-am competition.

The majors also contribute on the Race to Dubai and his sixteenth-place finish at the British Open was his only top 20 in the big four tournaments. But on the American-based circuit he achieved seven top-five finishes.

Fleetwood was also Europe's top points scorer at Bethpage last month. It would be ridiculous 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 supports European tour financial rewards.

As Marco Penge, recent champion of the Spanish Open, has positioned himself in close pursuit as his closest rival at the summit of the Race to Dubai, much of the attention for the rest of the season will have an American bias.

The storyline will be driven by the scramble for ten spots on the PGA Tour for those who do not currently possess playing rights in the US. Penge, with three European victories, is assured of what is widely regarded as 'promotion' to the American tour.

The Lancashire golfer, who also secured invites to the Masters and Open with his Madrid victory, is not in the tournament lineup but will mount a last effort to try to overtake the leader at the peak of the standings.

Meanwhile the English competitor, the man Penge beat in the Madrid play-off, is one of four other Britons in the thick of the battle for a future US tour card.

Yorkshireman John Parry and the West Country pair of Smith and Canter also currently occupy spots that would yield a golden ticket for the coming season.

Some observers see this development as evidence that the European circuit is now nothing more than a development tour for big brother on the other side of the pond.

However the organization maintain it is a crucial system that supports their tour calendar, a necessary and enticing feature that maximises competitive chances for its participants.

Undoubtedly this is the season period where the realities and compromises of men's professional golf seem at their clearest display.