The final event of the 2025 Race to Dubai features the leading 50 available players on the Rankings, alongside Ludvig Åberg – who is making his DP World Tour Championship debut – and Shane Lowry who are also eligible for the season finale as European Ryder Cup players.
The Swede is one of nine members of Luke Donald’s side that are in action this week, as are McIlroy, Hatton, Robert MacIntyre, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Rasmus Højgaard, with Justin Rose joining in the action after opting to miss last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. McIlroy, Fitzpatrick and Nicolai Højgaard are the only past winners in the field.
Åberg is one of 17 players making their DP World Tour debut this week, which includes seven graduates from last year's Hotel Planner Tour and Race to Dubai number two Marco Penge, who is one of three players that could end their week as Race to Dubai champion.
It’s been an excellent campaign for the HotelPlanner Tour graduates, with nine players from the class of 2024 making their way to the Earth course. Jacob Skov Olesen, who made his Rolex Series debut last week in Abu Dhabi, is the only graduate of DP World Tour Qualifying School in the field.
Here are your one liners on every player in the field.
| Race to Dubai | Player | Age | Nationality | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rory McIlroy | 36 | Northern Ireland | In his own words, 2025 is the best year of his career and who’d argue with him. After claiming the Green Jacket – something which for so long had eluded him – to become a Grand Slam winner, he has since won on his homecoming in Ireland and is now in pole position to win the Harry Vardon Trophy for a seventh time. Defending champion. |
| 2 | Marco Penge | 27 | England | It’s been a career-changing 12 months for the Englishman, who arrives in Abu Dhabi as the only three-time winner this season, and with his career only set to continue to progress with dual membership on the PGA TOUR beckoning - he will hope to cap his season off by toppling McIlroy as the Race to Dubai champion. |
| 3 | Tyrrell Hatton | 34 | England | Began the year with a Rolex Series victory in Dubai and hasn’t looked back in truth, impressing in his limited starts to qualify automatically for the Ryder Cup where he went unbeaten in New York, contributing 3½ points from four matches. A player who relishes the bigger stages, he finished runner-up at this event last year. Still has a chance to win Race to Dubai. |
| 4 | Kristoffer Reitan | 27 | Norway | The HotelPlanner Tour graduate is one of the stories of the campaign after becoming only the second Norwegian to win on the DP World Tour, with a further seven top tens ensuring he has a PGA TOUR card sewn up. |
| 5 | Robert MacIntyre | 29 | Scotland | Continues to take his game to new heights, firmly establishing himself as a truly global talent and celebrated victory on home soil for the second time earlier this year. He nearly won the U.S. Open too, finishing runner-up to J.J. Spaun. |
| 6 | Adrien Saddier | 33 | France | Celebrated a landmark 200th start on the DP World Tour with victory in Italy, coming close to a second in a play-off defeat on the Rolex Series stage at the BMW PGA Championship. |
| 7 | John Parry | 38 | England | A late bloomer, who is reaping the rewards of persistence after building on his promotion from the HotelPlanner Tour by returning to the DP World Tour winner’s circle after a 14-year absence towards the start of the season which has included a further six top tens. Currently in line for a PGA Tour card. |
| 8 | Alex Noren | 43 | Sweden | What’s that saying about class being permanent? Well, having missed the bulk of the first half of the year, he has made a stunning return to action with two DP World Tour titles in as many months to become the most successful Swedish player in DP World Tour history. Currently in line for a PGA Tour card. |
| 9 | Aaron Rai | 30 | England | Rai propelled himself up the Rankings with a third place finish at BMW PGA Championship before claiming last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in a play-off over Fleetwood. Also finished inside the top 35 in all four Majors this year. |
| 10 | Tommy Fleetwood | 34 | England | Fleetwood has gone from upper echelon regular to global superstar in 2025, winning an eighth DP World tour title, a first PGA TOUR title – and the FedEx Cup to boot - and another Ryder Cup while reaching a career-high fifth in the Official World Golf Ranking. Lost in last week's Play-Off with Aaron Rai to move into the top 10. |
| 11 | Laurie Canter | 35 | England | After a strong start to the season, including a victory and finishing second and third to secure a debut at the Masters, the Englishman struggled to maintain that level. Found some form again with a runner-up finish in Korea. Currently in line for a PGA Tour card |
| 12 | Haotong Li | 30 | China | Having claimed his fourth DP World Tour title in Qatar in the early months of the campaign, the Chinese star was at the centre of international focus when he played alongside Scottie Scheffler in the final group at The Open. Currently in line for a PGA Tour card. |
| 13 | Daniel Brown | 30 | England | Sealed an emotional victory – his second on Tour – in Germany, days after losing his friend, and came close to adding more silverware as he lost out to countryman Penge in a play-off in Spain. Currently in line for a PGA Tour card |
| 14 | Keita Nakajima | 25 | Japan | An event winner in 2024 and now a Swing winner in2025, the former top-ranked amateur has four top fives this season including back-to-back runner-up finishes in March. Currently in line for a PGA Tour card |
| 15 | Jordan Smith | 32 | England | While a win has so far eluded him this season, finishing runner-up twice, it has been another campaign of consistency for the Englishman and he has dual membership within his grasp. Currently occupying the last spot for a PGA Tour card. |
| 16 | Martin Couvra | 22 | France | One would suspect he is a contender for Rookie of the Year honours, following a maiden DP World Tour title in Turkey. Has drawn comparisons with McIlroy, in part due to his similar swing but also for his curly locks. |
| 17 | Daniel Hillier | 27 | New Zealand | A winner at the 2023 Betfred British Masters, the two-time New Zealand Amateur champion bounced back from a disappointing 2024 with a runner-up finish at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic early in the season. |
| 18 | Matt Fitzpatrick | 31 | England | one of the form players in the game, making every cut from the Masters onwards and amassing eight top tens in that time. Part of Europe’s winning Ryder Cup team at Bethpage, he is a two-time champion at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship. |
| 19 | Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen | 26 | Denmark | A top-tier win is surely imminent for a man whose CV includes a stunning amateur career and three wins en route to winning the 2024 Road to Mallorca plus seven top tens on the DP World Tour and a runner-up finish on the PGA TOUR in 2025. |
| 20 | Elvis Smylie | 23 | Australia | A winner in the first event of his rookie season at the BMW Australia PGA Championship, the 23-year-old has had three other top tens this year, most recently a runner-up at the FedEx Open de France. He has consistently stayed inside the top 30 on the Rankings, and is making his first start |
| 21 | Nicolai Hojgaard | 24 | Denmark | Missed out on Ryder Cup qualification but is now two years into being a truly global player featuring across both the DP World Tour and PGA TOUR and is set for the season finale after missing out on defending his title in Dubai 12 months ago. |
| 22 | Joakim Lagergren | 33 | Sweden | A three-time Qualifying School and 2024 HotelPlanner Tour graduate, Lagergren has two runner-up finishes this year as he looks to add to his win at the 2018 2018 Rocco Forte Sicilian Open. |
| 23 | Angel Ayora | 21 | Spain | The Spanish sensation had two top tens in his first three starts after graduating from the HotelPlanner Tour and is bookending his season beautifully with another five in his last nine appearances. |
| 24 | Patrick Reed | 35 | USA | The 2018 Masters champion comes to this event for a seventh appearance, with four top tens to his name that include a T2 in 2018 and T3 in 2020. with a solid record. Two of his top tens in 2025 this season came from events in the UAE with the other two coming in Majors or Rolex Series events. |
| 25 | Thriston Lawrence | 28 | South Africa | While he may have struggled on the PGA TOUR and rarely been at his best on this side of the Atlantic, Lawrence still showed all his winner’s instinct in claiming a second title in Switzerland on the Back 9 to take his overall tally to five. |
| 26 | Justin Rose | 45 | England | The Ryder Cup winner’s season has been underline by strong performances in the big events. He finished runner-up to McIlroy at The Masters, tied 16th at The Open, and recorded a sixth place finish at the Genesis Scottish Open. |
| 27 | Jayden Schaper | 24 | South Africa | A third full season on Tour and a third consecutive season of improvement for Schaper who has more top tens (9) than any other player in 2025 |
| 28 | Richard Mansell | 30 | England | 2025 saw the Englishman’s consistency finally rewarded with a win at the Porsche Singapore Classic and he will be looking to add to his top five from Abu Dhabi to complete a big finish to the season |
| 29 | Andy Sullivan | 38 | England | Another season of fantastic consistency from the four-time winner with five top tens and 19 made cuts for the man who has finished in the top 100 on the Rankings for the last 12 seasons. |
| 31 | Shaun Norris | 43 | South Africa | Claimed his second DP World Tour win at December’s Alfred Dunhill Championship as part of a start to the season that saw him seal five top tens in seven starts and has secured a career-high finish on the Race to Dubai. |
| 32 | Jacques Kruyswijk | 33 | South Africa | Seems odd to have a breakout year in the season you rack up your 150th DP World Tour appearances but Kruyswijk has done just that, winning in Kenya and finishing second on home soil to easily have his best season since being a Q School graduate in 2017. |
| 33 | Joost Luiten | 39 | The Netherlands | Continues to prove that having to play on a career money exemption in 2023 was a blip as he looks on course for an 11th season inside the top 50 since 2010 |
| 34 | Rasmus Højgaard | 24 | Denmark | A Ryder Cup debut will be the undoubted 2025 highlight for Højgaard but he also went close to claiming second titles at both his home event and in Switzerland, while further bolstering his reputation on the PGA TOUR too. |
| 35 | Eugenio Charcarra | 25 | Spain | Wasn’t even a member at the start of the year but capitalised on an invite to win at the Hero Indian Open as his form during the Asian Swing saw him earn a return to the Major scene in the US PGA Championship. |
| 36 | Nacho Elvira | 38 | Spain | It’s been a quiet season for the steady Spaniard and with one top ten from 27 events it looked like it would come a premature conclusion before he finished second in Korea to catapult himself into this week’s field. |
| 37 | Calum Hill | 30 | Scotland | Returned to the DP World Tour’s winner’s circle for the first time since 2021 with victory in Joburg, since which the Scot has added two further top tens. |
| 38 | Michael Kim | 28 | United States | Perhaps best known outside of the US for his fantastically honest social media presence, his golf has very much done the talking in limited starts in 2025 with a win at the FedEx Open de France and top ten in India. |
| 39 | Marcus Armitage | 38 | England | This season has seen a welcome return to something like his best for the man affectionately known as the Bullet after he finished outside the top 100 last year, with a runner-up finish in Ras Al Khaimah and two further top fives. |
| 40 | Nicolai Von Dellinghausen | 32 | Germany | A DP World Tour semi-regular with two runner-up finishes, the German graduated from the HotelPlanner Tour last year and finally made his mark with a victory in Austria, following it with two further top tens as part of a stunning June run. |
| 41 | Kazuma Kobori | 24 | New Zealand | Born to Japanese parents, the New Zealander, who earned his card by winning the 2023/24 Challenger PGA TOUR of Australasia Order of Merit, has finished second and third this season. |
| 42 | Oliver Lindell | 27 | Finland | After making the cut in each of his first five DP World Tour starts this season, the Finn enjoyed a fine run of three top tens in five starts after the summer break in what has been a strong rookie campaign at this level. |
| 43 | Grant Forrest | 32 | Scotland | His second DP World Tour win came on home soil at the Nexo Championship earlier this year and is one he will never forget after getting a congratulatory facetime off US President Donald Trump. But it is also his only top ten of the season, although he did finish tied 11th at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship last month. |
| 44 | Johannes Veerman | 33 | United States | Was an early leader of the Rankings after claiming the biggest win of his career at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in his first start of the season but has just one top ten since and has more missed cuts than made in 2025. |
| 45 | Ewen Ferguson | 29 | Scotland | A fourth consecutive finish in the top 50 potentially beckons for the Scot, who had an impressive spring with a runner-up finish in Belgium and top five at the KLM Open before cracking the top five again at Wentworth. |
| 46 | Tom McKibbin | 22 | Northern Ireland | Has racked up points by producing on the big stage this year, with a top ten in Dubai and four consecutive top 20s on the Back 9 including at the BMW PGA Championship, to go with a best finish of third in Singapore. |
| 47 | Jorge Campillo | 39 | Spain | Another consistent campaign from a man you could set your watch by, he was a runner-up in Turkey and has another top ten in his 14th consecutive season inside the top 100 on the Rankings. |
| 48 | Jacob Skov Olesen | 26 | Denmark | An undisputed star in the making, the 2024 Amateur Champion gained a HotelPlanner Tour card via the GAP Rankings but then sealed a DP World Tour card at the Qualifying School and makes a Rolex Series debut this week after a season that has seen him secure six top tens and lead The Open Championship. |
| 49 | Connor Syme | 30 | Scotland | A strong start to the season was rewarded in the summer with a maiden victory at the KLM Open and while he has not been at his best since, he is still on track to make his way to the season finale for the fourth consecutive year. |
| 50 | Matthew Jordan | 29 | England | Surely a win is just around the corner for the Englishman who has been a picture of consistency across six seasons and had his best Tour finish when runner-up at the Nedbank Golf Challenge last December. |
| 51 | Brandon Robinson-Thompson | 33 | England2 | The HotelPlanner Tour graduate is proving he is much more than just a social media golfer, securing four top tens this season and proving he can go seriously low with a 61 in Bahrain. |
| 80 | Ludvig Aberg | 26 | Sweden | Two-time Ryder Cup star is making his debut in this event. Top tens in the Masters and the Genesis Scottish Open were the highlights of his DP World Tour campaign |
| 112 | Shane Lowry | 38 | Ireland | Strong form in recent weeks highlighted by a third place finish in India and a tie for 12th last week. He's also had five top tens in this event since 2011, including a T3 last year. |
