After close to 11 months, the DP World Tour season wraps up with the last of its two Play-Offs at Jumeirah Golf Estates’ Earth Course in Dubai.
As one of five Rolex Series events, the DP World Tour Championship offers a suitably grand conclusion to the season as the field of 52 compete for a share of the $10m prize money.
It’s much more than that, though, with the event also marking the conclusion of the season-long Race to Dubai as well as offering 10 non-exempt players one final opportunity to jostle for position in the rankings and earn a life-changing PGA Tour card.
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Another factor making the DP World Tour Championship one of the biggest events in the game is the field, with some of the most high-profile names in golf teeing it up at the Greg Norman-designed layout.
That’s even without the involvement of several notable names, including Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland and Sepp Straka, who is instead using the time to care for his baby, who was born prematurely.
Here are the players who will be adding more than a little star quality to proceedings in Dubai.
Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy leads the Race to Dubai rankings
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The Race to Dubai leader heading into the tournament is five-time Major winner McIlroy.
He is looking to continue a truly incredible year that has seen him win the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, The Players Championship and the Amgen Irish Open, as well as complete his career Grand Slam at The Masters and play a key role in Europe’s defeat of the US in the Ryder Cup.
His class shone through in the final round of the first Play-Offs events, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, when he produced a 10 under 62 to place T3 and cement his position at the top of the Race to Dubai rankings.
If he gets the job done this week, he will be the Race to Dubai champion for the fourth year running and for the seventh time in his career, overtaking the legendary Seve Ballesteros and going just one behind the player with the most Harry Vardon trophies, Colin Montgomerie.
Tommy Fleetwood
Tommy Fleetwood is having an excellent year
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Like McIlroy, Fleetwood is also having an incredible year, including his maiden PGA Tour title at the Tour Championship, which made him FedEx Cup champion, and another win at the inaugural DP World India Championship.
Elsewhere, Fleetwood was not only one of McIlroy’s Ryder Cup teammates at Bethpage Black but the standout player among a host of top performers.
As a result, big things will be expected of the affable Englishman in 2026, but before then, he has the chance to win the DP World Tour Championship for the first time in the city where he resides.
Fleetwood heads to the event having narrowly missed out on the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship title, which he lost to Aaron Rai in a playoff.
Tyrrell Hatton
Tyrrell Hatton is an outsider for the Race to Dubai title
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The Englishman’s stock has arguably never been higher, having helped LIV Golf team Legion XIII win the Team Championship, played a big role in Europe’s Ryder Cup win and achieved a T4 at the US Open.
Hatton has also won in Dubai this year, when he defeated Daniel Hillier in the Dubai Desert Classic, while he is one of just two players who can still catch McIlroy in the Race to Dubai.
To do that, he’ll need a win and some other elements to go in his favor, but with the season he is having, you wouldn’t put it past him.
Matt Fitzpatrick
Matt Fitzpatrick is looking for his first win of a resurgent season
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Unlike the three previous players, Fitzpatrick has yet to claim an individual title in 2025, but he can look back on the year with great satisfaction.
Over the past 12 months, his resurgence following a long spell of indifferent form was confirmed with a string of top 10 finishes, including in two of the Majors, while he was another standout performer for the Europeans at Bethpage Black.
There’s every chance he is not finished there, with the Englishman looking for his third DP World Tour Championship title, having won it in 2016 and 2020.
Ludvig Aberg
Ludvig Aberg is in the field thanks to his place in the European Ryder Cup team
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The Swede is one of two players in the field who didn’t qualify via his position in the Race to Dubai rankings. Instead, he competes thanks to his place in the European Ryder Cup team.
Aberg perhaps wasn’t quite firing on all cylinders in Abu Dhabi, placing T23, but there’s no doubt he has the ability and the temperament to finish the DP World Tour season in style.
Aberg has one title this season, the Genesis Invitational on the PGA Tour. Can he double his tally in Dubai?
Shane Lowry
Shane Lowry has had several close calls this season
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Along with Aberg, Lowry also qualifies thanks to his Team Europe Ryder Cup place, and he will be desperate to conclude the DP World Tour season with a victory after several close calls this year.
Lowry, who holed the putt that ensured the Ryder Cup would stay in European hands, finished runner-up at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Truist Championship, while he achieved T3 at the DP World India Championship.
His most recent DP World Tour win came at its flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, in 2022. Can he shine on one of the biggest stages again and end his season in style?
Justin Rose
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Another key performer for the Europeans at the Ryder Cup was the veteran of the team, Justin Rose, claiming two points from his three matches as the US was defeated 15-13.
It wasn’t just the Ryder Cup where the 45-year-old rolled back the years.
He also narrowly lost to McIlroy in a thrilling playoff at The Masters, finished in the top 10 of both the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Scottish Open, and claimed his 12th PGA Tour title at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Rose, who didn’t play in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, heads to Dubai 10th in the world rankings and in some of the best form of his career.
Robert MacIntyre
Robert MacIntyre is aiming for his second win of a fantastic season
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Popular Scot MacIntyre is another player enjoying one of the best years of his career, not least for his solid contribution for the Europeans at the Ryder Cup.
Earlier in the year, MacIntyre also secured top tens at both the WM Phoenix Open and The Players Championship, but he was just getting started.
After another top-10 finish at the Charles Schwab Challenge, he came close to winning the US Open at Oakmont before settling for runner-up, while he came seventh in The Open at Royal Portrush.
After another close call, runner-up at the BMW Championship, when he was successfully hunted down by Scottie Scheffler, he wasn’t to be denied a win, when he took the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship title in his homeland.
MacIntyre finished T9 in Abu Dhabi, demonstrating he is still in great form ahead of the final test of the DP World Tour season.
Rasmus Hojgaard
Rasmus Hojgaard has come close to victory several times this year
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Hojgaard made the European Ryder Cup team on merit, having qualified automatically, although there will surely be a tinge of disappointment that he couldn’t contribute any points to the total after losing both his matches at Bethpage Black.
Nevertheless, being part of the team was still an achievement, while he has had an excellent season in individual strokeplay events, including runner-up at the Danish Golf Championship and Omega European Masters.
Hojgaard, who also placed T3 at last month’s Sanderson Farms Championship, will be confident of ending the DP World Tour season on a high.
Patrick Reed
Patrick Reed is one of the big-name LIV Golfers in the tournament
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Along with Hatton, Reed is another big-name LIV Golfer in the field.
Like the Englishman, Reed is having a good season. He finished third at The Masters, while he came seventh in the LIV Golf Individual Championship, having claimed his first title on the circuit, in Dallas, before a T3 at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
Reed wasn’t at his best in Abu Dhabi, placing T49, but he has shown more than enough this season to suggest that he could be one to watch in Dubai.
Marco Penge
Marco Penge can still win the Race to Dubai
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Along with Hatton, Penge is the only other player who can still catch McIlroy and take the Race to Dubai title.
Like the LIV Golf star, even a win wouldn’t necessarily guarantee he’d lift the Harry Vardon trophy, but it would give him an excellent chance.
The star has hardly been a stranger to success this season, having claimed his first three DP World Tour victories, so making it four in Dubai certainly doesn’t seem beyond him.
Whatever happens, it has been a breakout year to remember for the Englishman, which he can look back on with huge satisfaction as he prepares for his maiden season on the PGA Tour.
