The 2026 golf season on the DP World Tour concludes this week at the Earth course in Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai. The season-ending tournament features the top 50 players on the points list competing for a $3 million winner’s check, the season-long Race to Dubai title, and 10 PGA Tour cards.
The Battle for No. 1
Eugenio Chacarra leads the Race to Dubai standings by nearly 534 points in his first full season on the tour. Rory McIlroy sits in second place, aiming for a fourth consecutive victory at the World Tour Championship and an eighth season-long title to tie Colin Montgomerie’s record. American player Patrick Reed is in third place, trailing Chacarra by a further 181 points.
With 2,000 points available for the winner at Jumeirah Golf Estates, Chacarra can guarantee the title only by winning the tournament. Chacarra praised his rival, stating, “He’s the No. 2 player in the world and the No. 1 in Europe. And he’s been doing it for a long time, and he plays really good out in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. He has played that course a million times, and I only played it once.”
Chacarra added, “Obviously, the odds are on him and he’s the favorite. But we’ll play golf. We know what I’m capable of when I am playing good.”
McIlroy moved above Reed in the standings after finishing third at the Abu Dhabi Championship last week, setting up a final pairing with Chacarra for the opening round on Thursday. McIlroy said, “That’s where I wanted to be. It’s a pretty familiar spot for me going into the DP World Tour Championship and I’m excited for it.”
Reed won the Dubai Desert Classic in January and the Qatar Masters in February, but his recent form declined following an injury withdrawal at the BMW PGA Championship in September. Other players retain a slim mathematical chance of winning the Race to Dubai, including Rahm, who moved to sixth place after winning in Abu Dhabi. Rahm noted, “Actually, gives me a little extra incentive. I really didn’t think I was going to have a chance.”
PGA Tour Cards and LIV Golf Returns
Chacarra and Reed have already secured two of the 10 PGA Tour cards available to non-exempt DP World Tour members for next season. The other players currently holding those positions are Casey Jarvis, Jayden Schaper, Daniel Hillier, Jakob Skov Olesen, Bernd Wiesberger, Andy Sullivan, Oliver Lindell, and Joe Dean, with Lindell and Dean occupying the most vulnerable spots.
This week’s results could bring the total number of former LIV Golf players with PGA Tour cards to four, following Brooks Koepka’s return last December. Reed chose not to renew his LIV contract in January and pursued the European tour points list, while Chacarra left LIV after his contract expired in 2024, and Wiesberger returned to the European tour in 2024 after two seasons with LIV.
The future pathways for other players who competed on LIV Golf will be determined by the respective golf tours and the athletes themselves, as reported by the Associated Press.
