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The Northern Irish golfer ventures into new territory by playing in the Indian tournament this week as he returns to action for the initial occasion since the prestigious team event.

While the golf superstar expands his competitive experience, the DP World Tour enters the final phase of this year's Race to Dubai. The world-class golfer is in the leading spot to claim the season-long title for the fourth consecutive year and seventh time overall.

This includes only three additional tournaments after the India Championship; the following week's Genesis tournament in Korean venue - which wraps up the 'Back Nine' phase of the schedule - and then the final two tournaments in the Middle East.

These big money playoff tournaments in the UAE capital and the emirate are exclusively available for the top 70 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 the subcontinent, there is less pressure than one would expect.

Sitting below the top 70, at initial inspection it would appear both require high finishes from their trip to the Indian course to extend their campaigns. Yet, in fact, they are guaranteed in advance of their positions in the UAE and Dubai.

This results from a little publicised but pragmatic exception whereby members of the European squad are also deemed qualified for next month's closing tournaments.

The English golfer, who triumphed in the American playoff series with his stirring win at August's Tour Championship in Atlanta, lies ninety-fourth in the European tour's season-long table. The Irish champion, who made the winning stroke that secured the Ryder Cup, is 155th.

Other European team-mates who can also qualify are Aberg (seventy-second) and Straka (one hundred forty-seventh).

This could challenge the fairness of a playoff structure, which by nature is intended to bring cut-throat competitive jeopardy, but this situation also illustrates realities faced by the Wentworth-based DP World Tour.

They are dependent on big backers such as DP World, who are also the title sponsors of this week's event in the Asian nation. They need the top players at their biggest events to justify the investment, which runs to substantial funding.

The talented golfer has enjoyed one of his best seasons, capped by his first win on American soil at the Atlanta course just under two months ago.

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

Practical considerations overrides competitive integrity, even though the top-ranked player - a local resident - has reserved his strongest showings for events that do not qualify on his home tour.

Fleetwood has so far played only four DP World Tour events and failed to place in the top 20 at any tournament; the Middle Eastern event, UK tournament, flagship event or Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

The majors also count on the season standings and his share of 16th at the British Open was his only top 20 in the big four tournaments. But on the US tour he achieved seven top-five finishes.

Fleetwood was also the team's highest contributor at Bethpage last month. It would be ridiculous for him not to be participating alongside the circuit's top performers 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 underpins European tour financial rewards.

While the English golfer, recent champion of the Open De Espana, has moved into close pursuit as his nearest challenger at the summit of the Race to Dubai, much of the attention for the remaining schedule will have an US focus.

The narrative will be shaped by the competition for ten spots on the American circuit for those who do not already have tour cards in the US. Penge, with three DPWT wins, is guaranteed of what is widely regarded as advancement to the US circuit.

The Clitheroe-based pro, who also secured invites to the Masters and British Open with his Madrid victory, is not in the tournament lineup but will mount a last effort to try to overtake McIlroy at the top of the rankings.

Meanwhile Dan Brown, the man Penge beat in the Spanish playoff, 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 presently hold spots that would yield a golden ticket for next year.

Certain analysts see this scenario as evidence that the European circuit is now nothing more than a development tour for the larger circuit on the American continent.

But the DP World Tour maintain it is a vital mechanism that underpins their schedule, a essential and attractive element that optimizes playing opportunities for its members.

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