There is plenty to play for as the final regular event of the season sees the DP World Tour visit South Korea for the Genesis Championship.
Here are your five things to know.
Lee defends as home heroes assemble
Since the DP World Tour's Korea Championship and the KPGA TOUR’s Genesis Championship merged to become co-sanctioned as the Genesis Championship in 2024, it has been a case of double delight for golfers from South Korea. Following on from Byeong Hun An's success two years ago, it was Junghwan Lee who triumphed 12 months ago as he became a DP World Tour winner for the first time. Four shots behind joint leaders Mikael Lindberg and Nacho Elvira going into the final round, Lee recovered from bogeying the second to card the lowest round of the tournament with a seven-under-par 64 to claim a three-shot victory. With it, Lee earned DP World Tour membership and a place at the Abu Dhabi Championship. This week will see him make his 22nd start of the 2026 season, his first full campaign on golf's global tour. While he is without a top ten to his name, he is assured of his playing rights on next year's Race to Dubai through his winner's category and will attempt to become the first player in tournament history to successfully defend his title. There are 39 players from South Korea teeing it up, headlined by recent Presidents Cup teammates Si Woo Kim and Sungjae Im as they look add DP World Tour glory to their CVs. Shin Sang-hun, who leads the KPGA's order of merit, is also among those home players in action.
Inside the field
Players from 25 countries will tee it up this week, with representation from Scotland and Spain to Brazil and Portugal. Eugenio Chacarra will aim to bolster his lead at the top of the Race to Dubai Rankings Delivered by DP World, following a run of form that has seen him finish third, second and then first last week in India across his last three starts. He is one of 11 winners from this season on the DP World Tour teeing up, with fellow multiple winner Casey Jarvis and Open champion Ryan Fox among them. Fox's countryman Daniel Hillier and Denmark's Jacob Skov Olesen complete five of the top ten on the Race to Dubai to appear in South Korea at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club. Joel Girrbach of Switzerland is set for his 32nd event of the season after playing in every possible tournament for which he was exempt on this season's Race to Dubai barring one.
The battle for a DP World Tour card
This week sees Phase Two of the DP World Tour season - the Back 9 - come to a climax, with the top 100 - a change from the top 110 last year - on the Race to Dubai Rankings at the tournament's end guaranteeing Category 10 status for next season and thus the ability to plan a near-full schedule. The man right on the bubble is Viktor Hovland, but the Norwegian is not in action and has already assured his playing rights for 2027 as a member of the 2025 European Ryder Cup team. The man looking in from the outside is Sebastian Söderberg, with the Swede a mere 0.75 ranking points behind Hovland and a further 10.10 behind 99th-placed Eddie Pepperell, who has opted not to tee it up. Among those also looking over their shoulders are Scotland's David Law and Italy's Matteo Manassero, with the pair sitting 97th and 98th respectively. With John Parry also guaranteed his playing rights next season having played as a dual member with the PGA Tour this year, Sean Crocker is the next best-placed at 103rd to have a shot at doing enough to climb into the top 100. But to do so, he along with Söderberg and all those below them - including the vastly experienced duo of Marcel Siem and former event winner Pablo Larrazábal - need to make the cut at the very least to stand a chance. All those who finish between 100 and 110 will earn Category 18 status on the DP World Tour, or make a visit to Qualifying School in Spain.
To view the Race to Dubai Rankings ahead of this week's event, click here.
The hunt to make the Play-Offs
As well as the battle to finish inside the top 100, there is also the matter of a spot in the DP World Tour Play-Offs on the line. The leading 70 available players in the Rankings at the end of this week will play their way into the field for the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship next month. The top 50 after that will earn a place at the DP World Tour Championship, the second of back-to-back Rolex Series events. China's Wenyi Ding missed out on making it to Abu Dhabi by one spot last year and is the man occupying spot number 70. Those just below him include a trio of this season's winners in South African pair Yurav Premlall and Richard Sterne along with the United States' Jordan Gumberg, who last year dramatically sealed his DP World Tour playing privileges for this season with a hole-out eagle on the final hole of his final round. 2016 Ryder Cup player Rafa Cabrera Bello and PGA Tour winner Thomas Detry are among the most high-profile players looking to extend their season in the United Arab Emirates, with the European duo 81st and 87th in the Rankings. Sandwiched in between them among others is HotelPlanner Tour graduate Filippo Celli, who contended for the title at the BMW PGA Championship last month.
In pursuit of the Race to Dubai title
Riding the wave after becoming the first three-time winner this season, Chacarra will bid to extend his lead at the top of the Race to Dubai. With his nearest challengers Patrick Reed and Rory McIlroy not in action, the Spaniard would move 1,453.27 points clear at the top of the Rankings with a victory. At the same time, with 835 points on offer for the winner this week, Jarvis can throw his hat firmly into the ring in the knowledge a victory would lift him to second heading into the DP World Tour Play-Offs. The same can also be said of Fox, who starts the week sixth in the season-long standings, and could potentially rise to fourth if he were to become a multiple winner on the 2026 Race to Dubai. Safe to say, we're set for a thrilling finish to the season in the quest to win the Harry Vardon Trophy.
