Out of the Rough: DP World Tour Championship (2026)

We prepare to put a cap on the 2026 DP World Tour season with this week’s DP World Tour Championship.

This event was first staged 17 years ago when the DP World Tour emulated the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup with its own version - the Race to Dubai.

Traditionally, this event draws a star-studded field as it consists of the top 50 golfers within the Race to Dubai standings and this year is no different.

The DP World Tour Championship is the fifth and final event of the Rolex Series and usually, the winner of the season-long battle is determined at this event.

Eugenio Chacarra currently holds a 669.27 point lead over second place Patrick Reed. The winner of this event is granted 2,000 Race to Dubai points. 

The Field

The field consists of the top 50 golfers of the season-long Race to Dubai Standings through last week’s Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship.

The Course

The Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai, UAE has been the host of this event since its inception in 2009.

It plays as a par-72 at 7,706 yards.

The Earth Course is a Greg Norman design that is best described as a long typical desert track.

As displayed in the course’s scorecard yardage, it is a long course where distance off-the-tee is favored over accuracy. The fairways are also rather generous.

Although distance is much more important than accuracy, golfers can’t be completely wild off-the-tee. Over the years as the course has matured, missing the fairways has become slightly penal.

There are also 99 sand bunkers littered throughout the course and water is in play on holes six, 14, 16, 17 and multiple times on 18.

The greens are made up of a Tifeagle Bermuda. They are large in size and undulating with plenty of run-off areas. They typically run at 12 on the Stimpmeter.

The finishing holes here at the Earth Course offer a stunning finish that has the potential to produce drama down the stretch.

The par-three 17th features an island green and the par-five 18th has water in play twice if a golfer goes for the green and three times if they opt to lay-up.

It is also worth noting that getting off to a good start this week is a must. Rahm was tied for 14th and five off the lead with a two-under-par 70 in round in 2022. Matt Fitzpatrick opened with a 69 a season ago and too was five-strokes off-the-lead following the opening round before going on to win a season ago. Those two instances are the furthest anyone started the week back to go on and win.

Every other winner has started with a round in the 60s and this course is definitely a frontrunner’s track.

The first seven winners and 13-of-the-17 to date opened with a round of 68 or better and were within the top six places after the first day.

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, there is at most a five-percent chance of precipitation across all four days this week. Temperatures are also forecasted for a high of 86-degrees across all four days as well. Winds look to be a factor this week. Thursday is calling for winds as high as 20-degrees. Winds will reach upwards of 25 miles-per-hour across both Friday and Saturday before finishing the week with winds as high as 20 miles-per-hour on Sunday. 

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (SG: OTT) / Average Driving Distance

• Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)

• Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)

• Greens in Regulations Percentage (GIR%)

• Par 5 Average Scoring

• Scrambling

• Strokes Gained: Around the Green (SG: ATG)

• Sand Saves Percentage

Betting Card

Check back Monday (11/9) for my full betting card!

2025 Betting Card

• Matt Fitzpatrick (+1600) - 1st

• Marco Penge (+2800) - T22nd

• Angel Ayora (+6000) - T8th

• Adrien Saddier (+20000) - T24th

2024 Betting Card

• Matt Wallace (+2000) - T11th

• Thorbjorn Olesen (+2800) - T24th

• Tom McKibbin (+4500) - T11th

2023 Betting Card

• Tyrrell Hatton (+1200) - T11th

• Min Woo Lee (+1800) - T1th

• Nicolai Hojgaard (+2500) - 1st

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