The battle to win the Race To Dubai on the DP World Tour looks set to go down to the wire as Rory McIlroy needs to overhaul Patrick Reed to claim a record-equalling eighth title.
Reed will look to increase his lead of 308 points at this week’s Open de Espana with McIlroy not playing in Madrid, but there’s plenty of points on offer down the closing stretch of the season.
After neither man played in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship it left just five events remaining on the DP World Tour schedule for the No.1 to be crowned.
McIlroy has won the last four Race To Dubai titles in a row and seven overall – with one more drawing him level with Colin Montgomerie on a magnificent eight.
Collin Morikawa was the last man to stop McIlroy topping the standings, and after a fast start to the season Reed is now looking to become just the second American to claim the title on this side of the Atlantic.
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Reed will play one more tournament than McIlroy down the stretch, at the Open de Espana, with the two of them scheduled to face-off at the DP World India Championship before heading into the play-offs.
So where will McIlroy and Reed be playing? How many points are up for grabs and is it just a two-horse race or are there any other contenders? Let’s take a look…
Reed v McIlroy – story of the season
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Patrick Reed left LIV Golf in January and took up full-time DP World Tour membership – wasting no time in kick-starting his bid to play his way into a PGA Tour return while he served out his suspension.
Reed won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January and the Qatar Masters in February either side of a playoff defeat the Bahrain Championship to deny him a rare hat-trick of tournament wins.
A T12 at The Masters and T10 at the PGA Championship followed in the Majors before his form cooled off in the summer, aside from a T13 at the Genesis Scottish Open.
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He hit back with a T11 at the Omega European Masters before that T2 at the Amgen Irish Open showing he was back in form before injury struck just at the wrong time at Wentworth.
McIlroy’s season obviously has all been about going back-to-back at The Masters – but he also finished T7 at the PGA Championship just a month later.
He’s played a light schedule but finished strong on the PGA Tour when coming third at the BMW Championship then T4 at the Tour Championship.
A runner-up spot at the BMW PGA Championship gave McIlroy a big boost in points to cut the gap on Reed ensuring that the race to be European No.1 will go down to the wire.
Race To Dubai current standings
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Pos.
Name
Events
Points
1
Patrick Reed
18
3,423.62
2
Rory McIlroy
10
3,115.86
3
Eugenio Chacarra
26
2,824.39
4
Casey Jarvis
24
2,654.01
5
Aaron Rai
6
2,408.50
6
Ryan Fox
10
2,266.95
7
Jayden Schaper
23
2,153.29
8
Matt Fitzpatrick
8
1,882.95
9
Andy Sullivan
24
1,848.27
10
Jacob Skov Olesen
26
1,704.34
What are McIlroy & Reed’s schedules?
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Reed is playing at the Open de Espana this week where he’ll look to increase his lead, but he’s not far enough ahead to relax and it looks like the Race To Dubai battle will come down to three head-to-head meetings.
Both McIlroy and Reed are in the field for the DP World India Championship when they’ll get to spar once more to try and get the upper hand before heading to the DP World Tour Play-Offs in the Middle East.
There had been some worries over player safety due to the ongoing war in Iran, but both the events in Abu Dhabi and Dubai now look set to go ahead as planned and both men are in the fields.
And looking at the bumper Race To Dubai points up for grabs in those two events then everything could change in heartbeat – so this race really does look like going to the final event.
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Date
Event
R2D Pts
Entered
Oct 8-11
Open de Espana
5,000
Reed
Oct 15-18
DP World India Championship
5,000
Reed & McIlroy
Oct 22-25
Genesis Championship
5,000
None
Nov 5-8
Abu Dhabi Championship
9,000
Reed & McIlroy
Nov 12-15
DP World Tour Championship
12,000
Reed & McIlroy
Can anyone else win the Race To Dubai?
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It’s far from a two-horse race of course with some bumper Race To Dubai points on offer in the two DP World Tour Play-Off events in Abu Dhabi and Dubai that finish off the season.
Eugenio Chacarra is around 300 points behind McIlroy so around 600 off the leader – that quite a gap he has to close up on, but as we’ve said the bumper points allocations on offer in the last two events mean big things are possible with big finishes.
There’s 1,500 points for the winner in Abu Dhabi and 2,000 for the Dubai champion so winning one of those with the current gap would see him go very close if Reed or McIlroy finish down the field.
Chacarra will also play one more event, as he’s in the field for both Spain and India but also the Genesis Championship in Korea – where if he keeps the current gap similar a top-two finish there could make things very interesting heading to the Middle East.
It would take something seriously special for the likes of Aaron Rai or Ryan Fox to make a late bid but they are Major champions so winning one of the big ones would be no surprise.
Race To Dubai points allocations for remaining events
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Header Cell – Column 0
Next three events
Aub Dhabi
Dubai
Total Pts
5,000
9,000
12,000
Winner
835
1,500
2,000
Runner-Up
555
1,000
1,335
Third
312
565
752
4th
250
450
600
5th
212
381
509
6th
175.5
315.1
420
7th
150
270
359
8th
125
225
300
9th
111.5
200.7
267
10th
100
180
240
TOPICS
Rory McIlroy
Patrick Reed