The 2019 Race to Dubai comes to an end at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai with the Number One spot still to be decided this week. Here are five things to keep a look out for at the Rolex Series event.
The race is nearly over
The race to be crowned 2019 Race to Dubai Champion will come to an end on Sunday afternoon when the 2019 Race to Dubai comes to an end. The DP World Tour Championship, Dubai is the 47th and final event of European Tour season and the Number One player will be confirmed at the end of play.
Bernd Wiesberger currently tops the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex, looking to become the first Austrian to win the season-long Rankings, but could be knocked off the top spot by a stellar chasing pack, including 2017 Race to Dubai winner Tommy Fleetwood, three-time Rolex Series winner Jon Rahm, The 148th Open Champion Shane Lowry, and the 2016 DP World Tour Champion Matt Fitzpatrick, who complete the top five alongside Wiesberger.
Rolex Series finale
The eighth and final Rolex Series event of 2019 will take place at Jumeirah Golf Estates, concluding a three-week swing of Rolex Series events, following the Turkish Airlines Open and last week’s Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player.
Each Rolex Series event has a minimum prize fund of US$7 million, however the 50-man field will battle it out for the largest first prize in tournament golf, US$3 million. As the final Rolex Series event of the season, players will also be hoping to win a significant amount of the 12,000 Race to Dubai points on offer.
The winner will take home over 2,000 rankings points, which will be a deciding factor in the race for European Tour Number One.
Star-studded line up
With the contest for Race to Dubai Champion on the line, the 50-man field at Jumeirah Golf Estates is not shy of world-class talent. Major Champions, including current Open Champion Lowry, Italy’s maiden Major man Francesco Molinari, winner of the 2018 Masters Tournament Patrick Reed and four-time Major Champion Rory McIlroy, will all be teeing it up.
Joining the Major men are a host of Rolex Series winners, including multiple champions of the lucrative events, Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Alex Noren, Rahm, Justin Rose, Wiesberger and Danny Willett.
EDGA Dubai Finale
The European Disabled Golf Association will tee it up alongside the DP World Tour Championship, with the new 36-hole event for Golfers with Disability taking place from November 22-23.
The tournament will feature six players from World Ranking for Golfers with Disability, including English pair Mike Browne and George Grove, Irishman Brendan Lawlor, France’s Charles-Henri Quélin, Chris Biggins of America, and Australian Geoff Nicholas, plus two wildcard invitations of Joakim Bjorkman and Chad Pfeifer.
Awards up for grabs
It is not only the Race to Dubai Number One which players will be battling it out for at the DP World Tour Championship, the Rookie of the Year and Challenge Tour Graduate of the Year awards will be decided come the end of play on Sunday afternoon.
Scotsman Robert MacIntyre, Kurt Kitayama of America, Spaniard Adri Arnaus and Italy’s Guido Migliozzi are fighting to be crowned the Rookie of the Year as they occupy 11th, 12th, 37th and 40th spots, respectively, in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex.
MacIntyre and Frenchman Victor Perez, meanwhile, are the highest ranked members of the European Challenge Tour Class of 2018, with Perez in 14th place in the season-long Rankings.
Former winners of the Rookie of the Year award include Rahm, Brooks Koepka and Martin Kaymer, while Koepka has also won the Graduate of the Year, with Erik van Rooyen the latest winner of the accolade in 2018.
