World No. 979 Stewart faces choice after fourth-place finish at Alfred Dunhill Links

Michael Stewart finished joint fourth at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on 4 October 2026 and now faces a scheduling dilemma after securing qualification for next week's Spanish Open.

The 36-year-old Scot, ranked world number 979, had earned £2,500 on Wednesday for finishing runner-up in the Tartan Pro Tour event at Duddingston Golf Club near Edinburgh and four days later took nearly 100 times that sum by finishing joint fourth behind winner Adrian Meronk at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. The leaderboard read: -20 A Meronk (Pol); -18 C Jarvis (SA), N Norgaard (Den); -17 M Stewart (Sco), T Fleetwood (Eng); -16 R MacIntyre (Sco), B Koepka (US). Selected others listed in the event included -13 C Syme (Sco); -12 S Bairstow (Eng), C Hill (Sco); -12 M Fitzpatrick (Eng), M Jordan (Eng); -11 D Law (Sco), R Mansell (Eng); -9 P Harrington (Ire), A Fitzpatrick (Eng), S Jamieson (Sco), C Adam (Sco), E Walker (Sco).

Stewart's top-10 finish — two shots behind Poland's Meronk, one behind Denmark's Niklas Norgaard and South Africa's Casey Jarvis, and tied with England's Tommy Fleetwood — means he qualifies for the Spanish Open next week. That opportunity conflicts with the conclusion of the Tartan Pro Tour, the Gleneagles Masters, where Stewart currently sits second and would secure a place on next year's second-tier Challenge Tour if he protects that position.

"Right now, in all honesty, in my mind, it's definitely play the Tartan Pro Tour final at Gleneagles," Stewart said. "If I don't go and somebody overtakes me, I don't think that's the right thing to do. "

"I've played so well to put myself in that position as well. There's so many good players behind me. One of three or four guys can catch me and, if one of them plays well, they can win. England's Jordan in contention at Alfred Dunhill Links Kim wins Asian Games gold to secure military exemption "

"It would be silly if I wasn't to go to Gleneagles and at least tee it up and try and secure my Challenge Tour card. " "That was my goal at the start of the year."

While Meronk collected his fifth win on the DP World Tour, Stewart finished one stroke ahead of compatriot and defending champion Robert MacIntyre and was making only his sixth appearance on the tour, having missed the cut in his previous five events. Stewart recalled his joint 52nd finish at The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in 2023 and said: "The Open was amazing, but I felt really disheartened after the Sunday at The Open because I felt like I threw away what could have been a really special weekend," he said. "But this is amazing. It gives yourself a little bit more belief that you can go on and compete at this level."

MacIntyre paid tribute to Stewart's week, saying: "It's brilliant," he said. "That's exactly what I was hoping for. "When we spoke at Kingsbarns when he had a good second round, it was like, hopefully he can do something special that gives him a chance. "I play the odd game of golf with him and his short game is superb."

Stewart must now decide between taking up the Spanish Open place earned by his top-10 finish or travelling to Gleneagles to attempt to protect his second place on the Tartan Pro Tour and secure a Challenge Tour card for next year.