The 2021 Race to Dubai comes to an end at this week’s DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. With several players still in the running to be crowned European Number One, here are five things to know.
The final Rolex Series event of 2021
The fourth and final Rolex Series event of 2021 will take place on the Earth Course at Jumeriah Golf Estates this week, marking the 40th and final event on the 2021 Race to Dubai.
The European Tour’s season finale features a 53-man field who will battle it out for the 12,000 Race to Dubai points and a prize fund of US$9million. This week’s winner will earn 2,000 Race to Dubai points, which could be a deciding factor in the race to become European Number One.
Who can be crowned European Number One?
While any of the players in the 53-man field can end the week as DP World Tour Champion, only six can finish the season as European Number One.
World Number Two Collin Morikawa won his first World Golf Championships title at the WGC–Workday Championship at The Concession in March before earning his second Major at The Open in July, and currently leads the Race to Dubai. A win would see him make history as the first American to win the season long rankings, but mathematically he could finish last this week and still be crowned champion, depending on where the other five players end up.
Just 236 points behind Morikawa is fellow American Billy Horschel, who captured the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in September. While a win would guarantee the top spot, he could finish as high as eighth and still have a chance, provided Morikawa struggles and the four players below him don’t win.
For Tyrrell Hatton, Min Woo Lee, Paul Casey and defending DP World Tour Champion Matt Fitzpatrick, only a win could guarantee their chance at being crowned Race to Dubai Champion. However, even with victory at the final event of the year they will need a little help from both Morikawa and Horschel.
Fitzpatrick defends
Matt Fitzpatrick returns to defend the DP World Tour Championship this week with a chance to make history.
The Englishman became just the fourth player to win this tournament on two separate occasions with his triumph last year, beating out Lee Westwood by a stroke to win the first Rolex Series title of his career.
This year, Fitzpatrick is one of just six players who has the chance to be crowned European Number One at the end of the week – but to do so, he will also need to become the first man to win this event three times.
Star-studded line up
With the contest for Race to Dubai Champion on the line, the 53-man field at Jumeirah Golf Estates is not shy of world-class talent. Major Champions, including Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed, Danny Willett, Shane Lowry, Martin Kaymer and current Race to Dubai leader and Open Champion Morikawa.
Joining the Major men are a host of Rolex Series winners, including the three 2021 winners of Tyrrell Hatton, Min Woo Lee and Billy Horschel. Former Rolex Series champions and Ryder Cup stars Tommy Fleetwood and Bernd Wiesberger are also in the field this week.
EDGA Dubai Finale
Eight leading golfers with disability will be competing for one of the European Disabled Golf Association’s (EDGA) most prestigious titles in Dubai this week – the EDGA – European Tour Dubai Finale.
The eight EDGA golfers have qualified through four events this season to play in the 36-hole tournament that will run alongside the European Tour’s DP World Tour Championship at Jumeriah Golf Estates (November 18-21).
In order of latest World Ranking for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD), the golfers are – Kipp Popert, England (Ranked No. 1), Brendan Lawlor, Ireland (2), Chris Biggins, USA (4), Kurtis Barkley, Canada (Ranked 7), Tomasso Perrino, Italy (8), Adem Wahbi, Belgium (16), Mike Browne, England (19), and Felix Norrman, Sweden (25).
