There is still plenty to play for on the European Tour as the 2020 season enters its final two weeks.
With both the Golf in Dubai Championship Presented by DP World and the South African Open taking place this week, the Race to Dubai then culminates in the season ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai at Jumeirah Golf Estates next week. We look at what the players will be competing for:
Eyeing the season finale
This week marks the final opportunity for players to secure a spot in the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, the fourth and final Rolex Series event of the year. Only the top 60 available players from the Race to Dubai, plus any member not otherwise exempt from the top 75 in the Official World Golf Ranking, will be eligible for the season finale at Jumeirah Golf Estate’s Earth Course, meaning a strong finish this week could earn a spot in the prestigious showpiece.
Race to Dubai Champion
The battle to be crowned Race to Dubai Champion will be decided at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, the 38th and final event on the 2020 Race to Dubai. Patrick Reed currently tops the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex and he will bid to become the first American to win the Harry Vardon Trophy when he tees it up on the Earth Course next week. Reed’s nearest challenger is England’s Tommy Fleetwood, the 2017 Race to Dubai Champion, who trails by 460 points, however with the tournament winner claiming 2,000 Race to Dubai points, any player currently in the top 71 on the Race to Dubai could mathematically claim top spot with victory next week.
Rookie of the Year
The Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award recognises outstanding performance in a player’s debut season on the European Tour and always provides an intriguing subplot across the year.
Whoever earns the prestigious accolade will join an illustrious list of former winners. Two of the last six recipients of the award – Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka – have gone on to become World Number One and this year’s potential winners will harbour the same aspirations.
This year, the Rookie of the Year will be decided by a committee comprising two members of the Tournament Committee and two members of the Tour’s Executive. This is due to the unforeseen impact of Covid-19, which includes lower Race to Dubai points being available, members in the U.S. not travelling to events as intended due to quarantine issues, the repositioning of Major Championships and the revision of the qualification process into the U.S. Open, all of which have impacted on the opportunities for a broad range of members.
The committee will meet after the conclusion of the season to choose the 2020 Rookie of the Year, with a player’s Race to Dubai Ranking remaining paramount in their considerations.
Challenge Tour Graduate of the Year
The European Challenge Tour is a proven pathway to global success, as showed by Christiaan Bezuidenhout earning the 494th win on the European Tour by a former Challenge Tour player at the Joburg Open last month. Each year, one player from the previous season’s Challenge Tour graduates is recognised with the Graduate of the Year award and the race is still on to follow in the footsteps of last year’s winner, Robert MacIntyre. Frenchman Antoine Rozner is currently the highest-placed graduate from the Class of 2019, sitting 55th on the Race to Dubai, but everything can still change with all 15 graduates teeing it up across this week’s two events.
