Field in Focus: at the Dubai World Championship

Field in Focus: at the Dubai World Championship

europeantour.com takes a closer look at the field taking to the Earth Course, Jumeirah Golf Estates, for what promises to be a thrilling season-ending Dubai World Championship from December 8-11.

In the field are:

58 of the top 60 in The 2011 Race to Dubai

The qualification criteria for the Dubai World Championship of course dictates that the top 60 players in that season’s Race to Dubai qualify for the season-ending $7.5m showpiece in the Gulf, and all players are in attendance in the City of Gold bar England’s Justin Rose, who returned to Lake Nona, Florida, after his appearance at the UBS Hong Kong Open for the imminent birth of his second child, and Sweden’s Fredrik Jacobson, who was forced to withdraw from the field with an injury.

15 different nationalities represented

2 previous winners of the Dubai World Championship

As the tournament this year marks its third staging at the Jumeirah Golf Estates, both previous winners of the event have once again qualified. Englishman Lee Westwood, the inaugural winner of the event in 2009, is currently fifth in this year’s standings, while the defending champion, Sweden’s Robert Karlsson, is at 42nd.

In 2009, Westwood secured the title with a nerveless final round 64 to win by a six shot margin and with it claimed the inaugural Race to Dubai title, while last year Karlsson triumphed over Englishman Ian Poulter after an exhilarating play-off.

2 previous winners of The Race to Dubai

Westwood won the maiden Race to Dubai in 2009, winning twice during the season – in the Portugal Masters and the Dubai World Championship – and accumulating a record €4,237,762, while Martin Kaymer took the honours the following year to become only the fourth continental European to win the Harry Vardon trophy, following in the footsteps of the legendary Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer and Robert Karlsson. Kaymer won four times in a sensational 2010, capturing his maiden Major title at the US PGA Championship in addition to the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, the KLM Open and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on his way to another record €4,461,011

10 Multiple European Tour Winners in 2011

The top 4 in the World

The Dubai World Championship is known as The Greatest Show on Earth and this year the Earth Course will truly play host to some of the finest golfers on the planet, including the current all-European top four players in the Official Golf World Ranking: Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer.

Europeans have occupied the top four spots in the Ranking on a number of occasions this season, the first time being after the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship where, after Donald defeated Kaymer in the final, Graeme McDowell joined the aforementioned two Europeans and Westwood to make the first all-European top four since 1992, when Ian Woosnam, Sir Nick Faldo, Jose Maria Olazábal and Seve Ballesteros topped the ranking.

10 Major Championship winners

16 Players making their debut at the Dubai World Championship