The DP World Tour season ends with the double stop in the United Arab Emirates where the two rich PlayOffs will be played, both part of the Rolex Series, with the participation of almost all the best players on the circuit. It starts with the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship (7-10 November) on the Yas Links course in Abu Dhabi, to which the first 70 classified, in descending order, of the Race to Dubai (order of merit) were admitted, including three Italians: Matteo Manassero (n. 6), Guido Migliozzi (n. 14) and Francesco Laporta (n. 60), who obtained the pass with the sixth place in the previous Genesis Open following two other good performances.
DP World Tour, schedule
After Abu Dhabi, transfer to Dubai for the DP World Tour Championship (14-17 November) where the “king” of the 2024 circuit will be crowned and in which the first 50 of the money list will take part. The prize money is remarkable with nine million dollars (of which 1,530,000 to the winner) in the first race and ten million in the second, with the addition of a bonus of six million (two million to the first) for the ten best in the final ranking.
A field of great quality, as mentioned, with the leader of the money list, Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy, who is aiming for his third consecutive year of reign (after having been at the top also in 2012, 2014 and 2015), but despite having a notable advantage of 1573 points on the South African Thriston Lawrence, second, and 1920 on the Dane Rasmus Hojgaard, third, the game is not over yet.
However, many competitors have very valid reasons to avoid everything focusing on a three-way match, starting with Manassero and Migliozzi, who have the primary objective of winning one of the ten “cards” for the 2025 PGA Tour granted to the top ten of the Race to Dubai who are not otherwise exempt. Manassero (third on the list) is probably already safe from surprises, while Migliozzi (ninth) will have to resort to the best of his repertoire, who returned to this top ten thanks to fifth place in the Genesis Championship. The Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, who already plays in America, does not have the same intention, but he would enrich his palmarès with prestige with a third success in the tournament after the double in 2018 and 2017, the year in which he was also on the roof of Europe.
Among the many other possible protagonists are the Scot Robert MacIntyre, who also knows how to win a Rolex Series event (his is the Genesis Scottish Open in July), the Japanese Rikuya Hoshino and Keita Nakajima, the Australian Adam Scott, the Irishman Shane Lowry, the Dane Nicolai Hojgaard, the Englishmen Jordan Smith and Justin Rose (money winner in 2007), the Swede Sebastian Soderberg, also in the running to go to the PGA Tour, and the Australian Min Woo Lee, brother of the proette Minjee Lee (world no. 17), both second last year, to name a few. Without forgetting the Englishmen Tyrrell Hatton and Laurie Canter, the Chilean Joaquin Niemann and the Polish Adrian Meronk, members of LIV Golf.
The tournament, founded in 2006 and now in its 19th edition, will feature three past winners: the aforementioned Tyrrell Hatton (2021), Shane Lowry (2019) and Tommy Fleetwood, one of three authors of a double and the second to do so consecutively after the German Martin Kaymer, record holder among multiple winners with three titles (2008, 2010, 2011). The other to score twice was the Englishman Paul Casey (2007, 2009). Absent is the defending champion Victor Perez, who spent a good part of the season on the PGA Tour and failed to qualify for this event. The American Billy Horschel (ranked No. 4), the Swede Ludvig Aberg (No. 16), the Spaniard Jon Rahm (No. 34 and first on the continent in 2019), the Frenchman Matthieu Pavon (No. 55), the South African Zander Lombard (No. 56) and the Englishman Aaron Rai (No. 57) have withdrawn. They have been replaced by those ranked 71st to 76th in the Race to Dubai.