DP World Tour Championship 2026 preview picks analysis

After 41 tournaments, it all comes down to the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, where the top 50 golfers will be battling it out for end-of-season honours.

Spaniard Eugenio Chacarra is in pole position to prevent Rory McIlroy from winning a record-equalling eighth Race to Dubai title but after his third-place finish in Abu Dhabi, McIlroy is now breathing down the Spaniard’s neck.

It has been quite a season. We have seen Chacarra winning three times, while Patrick Reed, Jayden Schaper and Casey Jarvis each won twice. We have seen remarkable comeback victories from Richard Sterne, Scott Jamieson and Adrian Meronk. We have seen Yurav Premlall and Shane Lowry achieve remarkable victories at the Catalunya Championship and Irish Open respectively.

In short, it has been yet another remarkable 12 months. And there is still much to play for in Dubai this week.

Chacarra and Reed have locked up their PGA Tour cards for 2027. Of course, Reed has been there, done that and is returning to mainstream golf after leaving LIV. It has to be said that he has made a rather better fist of it than Brooks Koepka, whose season on the PGA Tour has been one long hard struggle.

I am convinced that Chacarra is going to be a sensation in America. He has achieved his incredible success despite being wayward from the tee - and this is something he will most definitely get away with in America.

Chacarra is attempting to become only the third player from his country, after Seve Ballesteros and Jon Rahm, to be crowned European number one. "To have the chance to win the Harry Vardon Trophy would be very special. I know the players behind me will push hard, but I’m playing the best golf of my career and I can’t wait to get there."

McIlroy has largely had a pretty disappointing season. Yes, he won The Masters for a second successive year and I would take nothing away from that. After going so long without winning a major he has won back-to-back Masters. But there have not been many other highlights for the Northern Irishman and the odds are that he will have to wait for that eighth Race to Dubai title.

There are 10 PGA Tour cards up for grabs in Dubai. Chacarra, Reed, Jarvis and Schaper obviously have theirs all locked up. Others who will be hoping to secure their cards are Jacob Skov Olesen, Andy Sullivan, Bernd Wiesberger, Oliver Lindell, Joe Dean and Nacho Elvira. But several of these men could still miss out.

I hope that Dean comes through. This is a man who nearly gave up the game and worked as a delivery driver to keep the wolf from the door. He decided to give it one more go and has enjoyed a fairytale year, winning the British Masters at The Belfry. He should also have won the Open de Espana.

He made headlines when, ranked 2,930 in the world and working part-time as a supermarket delivery driver, he finished runner-up at the Magical Kenya Open in 2024. He qualified for The Open later that year with a second runner-up finish at the KLM Open.

A year earlier, he came through all three stages of Qualifying School to earn himself a rookie season on the DP World Tour. Back then he could never have dreamt that he would today be within touching distance of playing on the PGA Tour. It is proof once more that dreams really can come true.

Tommy Fleetwood will be chasing a fourth UAE title. He won back-to-back titles in Abu Dhabi in 2017 and 2018, claiming the Race to Dubai in the first of those seasons, before winning the inaugural Dubai Invitational in 2024 and lifting the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup last year.

There is another fascinating sub-plot this week.

Rahm’s victory in Abu Dhabi has seen him leap up the Race to Dubai rankings and another victory this week could lead to an interesting conundrum for all concerned.

He is now in line for a PGA Tour card and there can be no doubt that the Americans would want him back in 2027. But at what financial cost? And Tyrrell Hatton could find himself in the same boat with a good week.

Twelve months ago, Matthew Fitzpatrick secured his third DP World Tour Championship title in style as he beat McIlroy in a play-off to finish the 2025 season on a massive high.

The Englishman started the day one shot off the lead but made three birdies in the first five holes to stay in the hunt before finishing with a flourish to sign for a bogey-free 66 and set the clubhouse target at 18 under par.

In a dramatic finish, McIlroy got the eagle he needed at the last to force a playoff, only to find the penalty area with his tee-shot at the first extra hole. Fitzpatrick took full advantage, getting up and down for par to see off his Ryder Cup team-mate, win a second Rolex Series title and add a third DP World Tour Championship crown to the ones he won in 2016 and 2020.

But the big news is that he will not be in Dubai to defend his title, having chosen to miss both playoff events because of security fears. He is joined by the likes of Shane Lowry, Min Woo Lee and Alex Fitzpatrick, while Matt Wallace has decided to stay in America in an attempt to keep his PGA Tour card, while Ludvig Aberg has decided to cut his year short after a disappointing campaign

Tournament winners:

It was won in 2015 and 2024 by Rory McIlroy, in 2016, 2020 and last year by Matthew Fitzpatrick, in 2017, 2019 and 2022 by Jon Rahm, in 2018 by Danny Willett, in 2021 by Collin Morikawa and in 2023 by Nicolai Hojgaard.

The course:

The Earth Course has been carved out of the desert and is a par 72 measuring 7,605 yards. It features plenty of sand, many water hazards, large undulating greens and many strategically-placed trees.

Form guide:

Rory McIlroy loves this part of the world. He has had a fairly quiet year but desperately wants to secure a record-equalling eighth Race to Dubai title and was nearly back to his brilliant best in Abu Dhabi.

Prize money:

The prize purse at the DP World Tour Championship is $10m, with the winner banking $3m and 12,000 points up for grabs. The leading 10 players in the Race to Dubai Rankings will earn a share of $6 million from a bonus pool.