There will be several winners at the conclusion of the DP World Tour Championship come Sunday in Dubai, although it all depends on what you’re playing for.
Rory McIlroy is after another Race to Dubai title, which would give him eight for his career and tie him with Colin Montgomerie for the most all time. McIlroy was tied for the lead after 36 holes but stumbled with three straight bogeys on Nos. 8-10 at Jumeirah Golf Estates Saturday. He finished with a birdie on the par-5 18th — just missing a short eagle try — to shoot 72 and is tied for fourth at five under.
McIlroy is four back of Tyrrell Hatton, whom he shared the 36-hole lead with. Hatton now sits alone atop the leaderboard at nine under, having secured the 54-hole lead after he drove it into the creek on 18 on Saturday, dropped and hit his next shot into the bunker but got up and down to save par.
A win for Hatton would be his first at the DP World Tour Championship, and it would cap an impressive run of golf coming off last week’s second-place finish in Abu Dhabi.
“I think my iron play has been pretty good these last two weeks,” Hatton said. “Last week I was really happy with my wedges. This week, it’s a little bit harder to get the wedges right to be honest. And then the other thing would be just the putter. I did a lot of work with the start line and reading putts and sort of visualizing the ball going in. I think that’s shown these two weeks.”
Eugenio Chacarra, also tied at five under, could be just the third Spaniard — joining Jon Rahm and Seve Ballesteros — to win the Race to Dubai. Chacarra made nine birdies on Saturday, and he’s projected to win the season-long race right now (although McIlroy sits in second and could surpass him).
“I’m just playing free,” Chacarra said. “This is an extra bonus to have a chance to win it, and just to enjoy every moment. Not a lot of people can enjoy this moment and have a chance to win the Race to Dubai.”
There’s also Adam Scott, who is playing for a long-overdue victory. The 46-year-old Masters champ is among the group at five under and four back of Hatton; he’s looking for his first win since the 2020 Genesis Invitational.
“I’d take any win, first of all, but these are the kind of events that I would love to putt on my resume at this point in my career, being a long-time DP World Tour player, I would love to win one of their flagship events,” Scott said. “It would mean a lot just to win anything at this point for me but that would be really fantastic.”
Although while McIlroy winning a season-long points race or Scott winning a tournament are nice stories and all, they probably aren’t the most significant storylines taking place in the final round (which will mostly happen overnight for those in the States). That title might belong to those who play their way in to the top 10 of the final Race to Dubai standings, which means they’ll earn PGA Tour cards for next season (if they don’t have one already).
And a PGA Tour membership, while always valuable, is even more crucial next season. The Tour is splitting into a Championship Series and a Challenger Series come 2028, which means playing on the Tour in 2027 would be a massive head start to any pro hoping to play their way into the more lucrative Championship Series.
That includes guys like Chacarra, Casey Jarvis, Daniel Hillier, Mikael Lindberg and others. They are all currently projected to earn cards.
Lindberg is 33 but has never been a PGA Tour member. He’s six under, in solo third, and three back of Hatton. Another good day means he’ll stay in that top 10. He’s projected for 15th in the Race to Dubai standings as of now, but if the tournament ended Saturday he’d still secure a spot given some players (like McIlroy and Ryan Fox, etc.) already have Tour cards.
And you have to give Lindberg credit: he didn’t sugarcoat how difficult the task ahead might be come Sunday.
“I’ve won on this tour, I know I can get it done,” Lindberg said. “But on this stage, I don’t know. It’s a lot of big names up there.”
