Rory McIlroy will win the Race to Dubai for a fifth time and Jon Rahm arrives as defending champion at the DP World Tour season finale; watch the DP World Tour Championship live on Thursday from 7am on Sky Sports Golf
Thursday 16 November 2023 07:35, UK
The DP World Tour season reaches its climax this week at the DP World Tour Championship, live on Sky Sports, with Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm among the stars in action in Dubai.
Only the top 50 eligible players in the season-long Race to Dubai standings can feature at Jumeirah Golf Estates, where Rahm returns as defending champion and McIlroy arrives already assured of ending the year as European No 1.
A strong field will play for a huge $10m prize purse, with $3m going to the winner, with a host of potential storylines on offer at the final event of an entertaining 2023 DP World Tour campaign.
McIlroy makes his first DP World Tour start since September and first competitive appearance since top-scoring for Europe in their Ryder Cup success, with the four-time major champion already guaranteed to win the Race to Dubai for a fifth time.
He holds an unassailable 2,083-point lead in the season-long standings ahead of this week, where only 2,000 points are available to the winner, meaning he wins the Race to Dubai for a second successive year and moves within three of Colin Montgomerie's record tally of eight Order of Merits.
McIlroy has registered 5,164 points from his nine DP World Tour starts in 2023, with the former world No 1 claiming the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in his opening event of the season and winning the Genesis Scottish Open in July.
A runner-up finish at the US Open was one of three top-sevens in majors this year and followed a semi-final appearance at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, while McIlroy is the first player in the Race to Dubai era to secure top spot before the final event.
McIlroy has won the DP World Tour Championship himself in 2012 and 2015, while another Dubai success this week would see him move alongside Rahm as a three-time champion and narrow the gap on Scottie Scheffler at the top of the world rankings.
Rahm became the first three-time winner of the DP World Tour Championship when he claimed a two-shot win in last year's contest, following on from titles in 2017 and 2019, with the Spaniard now having the opportunity to create more history on the Earth Course.
The reigning Masters champion is aiming to join Henrik Stenson as the only player to win back-to-back editions of the season finale, with Rahm bidding to add a fifth worldwide victory to an already impressive year.
Rahm has finished in the top-three of the season-long standings in five of the past seven years, while the world No 3 - currently second on the Race to Dubai - can extend that run and reduce the gap on McIlroy with a strong performance this week.
McIlroy and Rahm will be part of a strong Ryder Cup contingent at this week's event, with 10 members of Luke Donald's side that beat Team USA 16.5-11.5 in Rome inside the top 50 on the Race to Dubai and scheduled to feature.
Hovland has the chance to win the season-finale on both sides of the Atlantic, having won the FedExCup at the Tour Championship on the PGA Tour earlier this summer, while Tyrrell Hatton looks to go one better than last year's runner-up finish in Dubai.
Alfred Dunhill Links champion Matt Fitzpatrick can join Rahm as a three-time DP World Tour Championship winner, having lifted the trophy in 2016 and 2020, with Tommy Fleetwood, Sepp Straka and Shane Lowry also part of a strong field.
Nicolai Hojgaard is inside the top-10 of the Race to Dubai rankings after his runner-up finish at the Nedbank Golf Challenge and Scotland's Robert MacIntyre is just behind him, with both searching for a first victory of the season.
Many of the field have the added incentive of trying to secure playing privileges on both sides of the Atlantic, with the leading 10 players - not otherwise exempt - on the Race to Dubai rankings earning PGA Tour cards for the following season.
The top finisher in the Race to Dubai who is not already exempt on the PGA Tour will be fully exempt for the following season, like players finishing in the top-125 in the FedExCup standings, while the other nine will also be able to play on the PGA Tour in 2024.
Meronk, Ryan Fox and Victor Perez are among those set to secure a PGA Tour card, while the next-highest ranked player from the Race to Dubai will earn PGA Tour status if any qualifying DP World Tour member declines the option of PGA Tour membership.
Here are the current top 50 on the Race to Dubai and those in the field for the DP World Tour Championship (correct as of November 13; English unless stated):
1. Rory McIlroy (NIrl), 2. Jon Rahm (Esp), 3. Adrian Meronk (Pol), 4. Ryan Fox (Nzl), 5. Victor Perez (Fra), 6. Thorbjorn Olesen (Den), 7. Alexander Bjork (Swe), 8. Sami Valimaki (Fin), 9. Min Woo Lee (Aus), 10. Nicolai Hojgaard (Den), 11. Robert MacIntyre (Sco), 12. Vincent Norrman (Swe), 13. Jorge Campillo (Esp), 14. Viktor Hovland (Nor), 15. Ryo Hisatsune (Jpn), 16. Rasmus Hojgaard (Den), 17. Yannik Paul (Ger), 18. Marcel Siem (Ger), 19. Matt Fitzpatrick, 20. Matthieu Pavon (Fra), 21. Sebastian Soderberg (Swe), 22. Joost Luiten (Ned), 23. Tyrrell Hatton, 24. Jordan Smith, 25. Thriston Lawrence (Rsa), 26. Tommy Fleetwood, 27. Tom Kim (Kor), 28. Romain Langasque (Fra), 29. Daniel Hillier (Aus), 30. Pablo Larrazabal (Esp), 31. Nathan Kimsey, 32. Zander Lombard (Rsa), 33. Adrian Otaegui (Esp), 34. Matthew Southgate, 35. Grant Forrest (Sco), 36. Anotine Rozner (Fra), 37. Dan Bradbury, 38. Julien Guerrier (Fra), 39. Lucas Herbert (Aus), 40. Sepp Straka (Aut), 41. Tom McKibbin (NIrl), 42. Ewen Ferguson (Sco), 43. Julien Brun (Fra), 44. Shane Lowry (Irl), 45. Connor Syme (Sco), 46. Jeff Winther (Den), 47. Nacho Elvira (Esp), 48. Matt Wallace, 49. Jens Dantorp (Swe), 50. Daniel Brown
Watch the DP World Tour Championship throughout the week live on Sky Sports, with six hours of live coverage available to enjoy for each of the four rounds.
Coverage begins from 7am for each of the first three days, with the action then starting from the early time of 6.30am for Sunday's final round, while the tournament is one of four events live on Sky Sports Golf this week.
Non-Sky Sports subscribers can watch all this week's golf through NOW, while there will be a rolling live blog on skysports.com and the Sky Sports App with video highlights, analysis and text commentary from Dubai.
Who will win the DP World Tour Championship? Watch the opening round live from Thursday at 7am on Sky Sports Golf! Stream the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LPGA Tour and more with NOW.
