English duo to swerve DP World Tour Championship
Monday 12 November 2018 14:30, UK
Justin Rose is out of the running to win the Race to Dubai after deciding not to play in the European Tour’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
The FedExCup champion still had a mathematical chance of also ending the year as European No 1, although he is third in the standings and trails leader Francesco Molinari by nearly 1.3 million points.
Rose would have needed a victory at Jumeriah Golf Estates and for Molinari to finish outside of the top 40 in the 60-man field, where 1,333,330 points are available to the winner.
The world No 2 is one of three eligible players not on the entry list for the event, with Ryder Cup team-mate Paul Casey and American Julian Suri, who withdrew from the Nedbank Golf Challenge with a muscular injury, also sitting out.
Speaking after winning the Turkish Airlines Open earlier this month, Rose said: "I have a lot going on the next couple weeks, so it [playing in Dubai] would be a big shift for me.
"It [why he isn't playing] might become apparent next year, but there are things that I need to kind of get figured out."
The 38-year-old last topped the European Tour's Order of Merit in 2007 and finished runner-up to Tommy Fleetwood in last year's season standings, where he narrowly missed out after bogeying three of his last six holes on the final day in Dubai.
Hideto Tanihara, Matthew Southgate and Robert Rock, who all started the week outside the top 60 in the European Tour standings, replace the missing trio, while only Fleetwood and Molinari can now claim the Race to Dubai title.
Rose's European Tour membership is unaffected despite not featuring in Dubai, as he has already completed the minimum requirement of four events outside of the majors and World Golf Championship tournaments.
The Englishman's next scheduled appearance is at the Hero World Challenge from November 29-December 2 in the Bahamas, live on Sky Sports, before he defends his Indonesian Masters title two weeks' later.
Watch the DP World Tour Championship throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage begins on Thursday from 7am on Sky Sports Golf.
