The DP World Tour Championship, the final event of the 2018 Race to Dubai, gets underway this week at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
For the first time all season players will go out in pairs in order of their current Race to Dubai rankings, with a redraw at the end of each round.
The first shot will be hit at 7.40am local time by England’sRobert Rock. The “last man in” at 64th in the Race to Dubai, he will be joined by fellow countrymanMatthew Southgate on Thursday morning.
At the stroke of midday, the final five groups will begin their tournament, led by 2018 British Masters winner Eddie Pepperelland Alfred Dunhill Links champion championLucas Bjerregaard. Between them, the pair have 17 top ten finishes on Tour this season but neither have replicated that form at Jumeirah Golf Estates having never finished in the top 25 in five combined appearances.
Shortly after Pepperell and Bjerregaard, double-Rolex Series winnerAlex Norenwill tee off alongside China’sHaotong Li. Having finished inside the top 15 in each of his last five starts, Li is one of the most in-form players arriving in Dubai and will look to become the first Chinese player to win twice in a season on the European Tour.
Noren, on the other hand, has struggled off late. The Swede hasn’t notched a top ten worldwide since winning his second Rolex Series title at the HNA Open de France in July. He’ll be hoping to mark his seventh DP World Tour Championship appearance with a good finish to close out the season.
At 12.20pm Dubai time, the Ryder Cup duo ofRory McIlroy and Thorbjørn Olesen get underway. By his own high standards, 2018 has been a disappointing year for McIlroy. Winless on the European Tour for 18 months, the Northern Irishman will be keen to relive the memories of 2012 and 2015 when he took home the title at Jumeriah Golf Estates.
His playing partner Olesen has enjoyed an incredible turnaround in his season. With more missed cuts than top tens over the first five months of the year, the Dane credited a rain delay with his change in fortune. Since then, he won the Italian Open and added seven more top seven finishes before arriving in Dubai this week. He has a solid record at the DP World Tour Championship, with six top 25 finishes in the last seven years.
The penultimate group, at 12:30pm, sees the all-American pairing of 2018 Masters ChampionPatrick Reedand WGC-HSBC Champions winnerXander Schauffele tee it up. At four and five in the Race to Dubai, both have enjoyed stand-out seasons in 2018 and will hope to continue that form into the weekend in Dubai.
While Schauffele will make his tournament debut in Dubai this week, he will hope to gain some expertise from his playing partner. Reed has finished in the top ten in both of his appearances over the past two years.
Finally, “Moliwood” will round off the field.Francesco Molinaricurrently leads the Race to Dubai thanks to a stellar year that has seen him win The Open Championship and the BMW PGA Championship. His only remaining rival in the season-long race,Tommy Fleetwood, will be keen to do all he can to try and win the title for the second year running. They may have formed a close friendship at the Ryder Cup but all will be on the line on Thursday when the two tee off at 12.40pm.
