While the current Closing Swing, which marks the final of five Global Swings on the 2024 Race to Dubai, takes a week off, we reflect on the first four Swings of the season.
As part of a new look for the Race to Dubai, this season includes three new and distinct phases – comprised of five innovative ‘Global Swings’ from November 2023 to August 2024; a historic ‘Back 9’ from September 2024 to October 2024; and two ‘DP World Tour Play-Offs’ in November 2024.
Four of those swings, the Opening Swing, the International Swing, the Asian Swing and the European Swing, have already been completed, with each Champion earning a $200,000 bonus.
In addition, Swing Champions so far have all qualified for each of the upcoming ‘Back 9’ events, and our first four champions have also earned an exemption into the next Rolex Series event. In the case of the Closing Swing, this means a chance to gain exemption into the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
Here's how the first four Swings have unfolded.
The Opening Swing
Across the six-event Opening Swing, there were four different winners that emerged as Min Woo Lee earned his title of Opening Swing Champion.
Beginning just days after the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship – co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia – marked the opening event of the first of five Global Swings running through to August.
Widely considered one of the most talented and engaging players of his generation, Lee was the subject of great fan support at Royal Queensland Golf Club for the first leg of Australia's two most high-profile events.
After carding a seven-under-par 64 to sit one shot off the pace after the first round, the home favourite hit the front with back-to-back 66s as he targeted his third DP World Tour title.
And despite seeing an overnight three-shot advantage wiped out over the opening two holes of the final round, Lee found his stride to record a 68, which included a stunning chip-in eagle, to claim a three-stroke victory over Japan’s Rikuya Hoshino. Living up to his billing as an entertainer, the 25-year-old engaged with the home crowds on several occasions, including wearing a chef’s hat to go with his well-known ‘let him cook’ phrase and leading a thunderclap.
On the opening weekend of the season and hours after Lee’s success Down Under, there was another triumph for a player on home soil as Dean Burmester won the Joburg Open.
The South African carded a closing bogey-free 64 as he overturned a three-shot overnight deficit to secure a three-shot victory at Houghton Golf Club.
The win for Burmester was his third on the DP World Tour and first in two-and-half years but it wasn’t long before he was winning again.
On the same day Joaquin Niemann entered the DP World Tour winner’s circle for the first time at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open, Burmester made it back-to-back victories as he lifted the Investec South African Open Championship title.
But he wasn’t the only South African to land back-to-back titles.
After winning the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek, the third of four events on South African soil co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour, Louis Oosthuizen backed it up with success at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open in the final event of 2023.
The International Swing
Like Lee, Rory McIlroy's performance in the first two events of 2024 set the tone and made him the man to catch as he topped the International Swing Rankings.
The International Swing began in the Middle East as two of Europe's Ryder Cup stars battled it out for victory at the inaugural Dubai Invitational. Tommy Fleetwood held the advantage over McIlroy for much of the dramatic final day, and while momentum momentarily swung the way of the Northern Irishman, Fleetwood produced a brilliant birdie-birdie finish to clinch his first title on the DP World Tour since the 2022 Nedbank Golf Challenge.
A week later it would be Rory's turn, with a history-making triumph at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. Having been ten shots behind after 36 holes, McIlroy produced a bogey-free 63 on Saturday and capped it off with a closing 70 to seal a one-shot victory over Adrian Meronk and become the first man to win the Dubai Desert Classic on four occasions.
Thorbjørn Olesen then claimed a dominant eighth DP World Tour title at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship to make it three wins in three consecutive years for the Dane. His six-shot victory included a course record 62 at Al Hamra Golf Club on Friday, and he held up to final day pressure from countryman Rasmus Højgaard as he regained control with a stunning eagle and eventually eased to a commanding win.
The DP World Tour’s return to the Kingdom of Bahrain for the first time in 13 years then ended in a long-awaited return to the winner’s circle for South Africa’s Dylan Frittelli. After a difficult 2023, Frittelli began the final round with a two-shot lead, and three birdies in a four-hole stretch on the back nine was enough to help him to a final round 71 and his first DP World Tour title in six years.
First-time winner Hoshino, who had already finished as a runner-up twice in Australia at the start of the 2024 Race to Dubai, then achieved success of his own. The 27-year-old had a sensational finish to avoid a play-off and become just the fourth Japanese winner in DP World Tour history at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
A week later, Darius van Driel became the latest first-time winner during a week of history-making at the Magical Kenya Open. The 34-year-old previously gave up the game but regained his card at Qualifying School and a birdie at the last sealed a two-shot victory on his 112th start.
The DP World Tour crowned its third first-time winner in as many events at the SDC Championship, which played out to a dramatic play-off conclusion between American Jordan Gumberg and home hope Robin Williams. The American, playing in just his 14th event, made a birdie putt from around 15 feet at the second extra hole to triumph for the first time.
The International Swing then closed with the greatest comeback story of the year as Matteo Manassero ended his near 11-year wait for a fifth DP World Tour title with an emotional triumph at the Jonsson Workwear Open. The Italian, who has experienced all the highs and lows that golf has to offer since becoming the DP World Tour's youngest winner at the age of 17 years and 188 days at the 2010 Castelló Masters Costa Azahar, led the way after a career-low 61 on Friday. With a two-shot lead down the last, Manassero holed an eight-footer on the 18th green for a fourth birdie in a row and ultimately comfortable win on 26-under-par.
The Asian Swing
With three top-five finishes from four counting events in this Swing, Sweden's Sebastian Söderberg topped the Asian Swing Rankings despite ending the third Global Swing without a victory.
There were just four counting events in the Asian Swing (with Majors not counting towards Swing Ranking Points) but plenty of drama with three first-time winners emerging on the DP World Tour.
The first man to break through was European Challenge Tour graduate Jesper Svensson, who claimed his first DP World Tour title with a play-off victory over Kiradech Aphibarnrat at the Porsche Singapore Classic in March.
In just his 14th event on the DP World Tour, the Swede matched the course record at Laguna National Golf Resort Club with a closing 63 before extra holes were required as Aphibarnrat eagled the last in a dramatic climax to regulation play.
A week later, another first-time winner emerged as former amateur World Number One Keita Nakajima went wire to wire to win the Hero Indian Open by a commanding four-shot margin. It was the amateur history maker's 11th Tour appearance - and eighth since turning professional in 2022 - becoming just the fifth Japanese winner in Tour history, emulating Isao Aoki, Hideki Matsuyama, Ryo Hisatsune and Hoshino.
And after Scottie Scheffler underlined his status as World Number One with victory at the Masters Tournament, there was even more Japanese success at the ISPS HANDA – CHAMPIONSHIP.
On home soil, Yuto Katsuragawa became the sixth Japanese winner in DP World Tour history and the third of the season, after Hoshino's victory in Doha during the International Swing.
Adrian Otaegui made it two victories apiece for Europe and Asia during the Swing as he became the first Spaniard to win on Tour this season, closing his account with a bogey-free five-under-par 65 in the final round which helped the Spaniard to his fifth DP World Tour title at the Volvo China Open.
Yet it was Söderberg who topped the standings and earned his place in the US PGA Championship field, where Xander Schauffele picked up his first Major title, before going on to capture the 152nd Open Championship later in the summer.
The European Swing
The European Swing provided plenty of drama as Guido Migliozzi topped the standings to be crowned champion of the penultimate Global Swing.
Nacho Elvira opened up the Swing with victory in his 275th appearance on the DP World Tour, surviving a tense finale to claim his second DP World Tour title at the Soudal Open in Belgium.
On a dramatic afternoon at Rinkven International Golf Club, the Spaniard – who held a four-shot overnight advantage – parred his final seven holes to hold on for a one-shot victory.
A week later, Laurie Canter entered the winner’s circle on the DP World Tour for the very first time at the European Open in Germany in his 142nd appearance.
Despite a top ten at the Soudal Open, the Englishman was playing with a new set of irons at Green Eagle Golf Courses and that decision paid dividends for the three-time Qualifying School graduate.
But it was the next event that provided one of the most dramatic finishes of the season so far, as Linn Grant made history in more ways than one.
Two years on from becoming the first female winner in DP World Tour history at the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed, Grant claimed the silverware for the second time on home soil to become the first woman to win twice on the DP World Tour (and remain the only).
She did it in remarkable fashion, chasing down overnight leader and compatriot Söderberg from 11 shots behind and and setting a DP World Tour record in the process, courtesy of a flawless final-round 65 in her hometown of Helsingborg that included a chip-in birdie on the last.
Bryson DeChambeau then edged out McIlroy in a dramatic finish to win his second U.S. Open, before the DP World Tour returned to Continental Europe a week later for the KLM Open in The Netherlands, where Migliozzi sealed his fourth Tour win.
The Italian fought off Joe Dean and Marcus Kinhult in a play-off at The International, a victory that ultimately proved instrumental in him emerging as the Swing Champion.
Extra holes were also required at the Italian Open presented by Regione Emilia-Romagna, when Marcel Siem produced a birdie on the final hole in regulation play to finish alongside Tom McKibbin at the top of the leaderboard. The German then repeated the feat soon after to claim his sixth DP World Tour victory and make a big move up the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex.
With one event left in the Swing, it was Ewen Ferguson who secured an impressive third DP World Tour title after a recent return from struggling with illness at the BMW International Open.
The Scot was due to travel to Open Qualifying on Tuesday of event week but after securing two top 30s following his retirement from the European Open due to vertigo, and with places available via the Race to Dubai and the Genesis Scottish Open, he decided to back himself to play his way to The 152d Open of the season via tournament golf.
