DP World Tour Championship 2024: Course and current form stats

• Six of world's top 20 teeing-up in Dubai

• LIV star Hatton 6/17.00 can end season with a bang

• Wallace 18/119.00 to mount serious challenge at Earth Course

Tournament and Course Notes

• The race to become the DP World Tour's number one golfer for 2024 reaches its conclusion this weekend. With over £7.5m of prize money available, this week's DP World Tour Championship has attracted its usual top-notch field. This will be the 16th successive year that the Tour finale has been staged over the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai;

• And with just one event remaining, on the 44-tournament calendar, Rory McIlroy holds a significant advantage over his nearest challengers. The 35-year-old currently heads the Race to Dubai standings by 1,785 points from South Africa's Thriston Lawrence;

• This week's field is limited to the leading 50 available players in the Race to Dubai standings, following the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Six of the world's top 20 golfers are teeing-up on the Greg Norman-designed Earth Course. Two qualifiers have withdrawn: Three-time Earth Course champion Jon Rahm has chosen to stay away, while Ludvig Aberg is recovering from surgery. At present, the golfers ranked 51 and 52 in the list will be competing this week;

• At almost 7,700 yards in length, the Earth Course is one of the longest layouts on the DP World Tour schedule and was built to entice the big hitters and promote attacking golf;

• Fairways are wide, while trees and dense vegetation are hardly an issue. Putting surfaces are large, quick and undulating, with many of the Great White Shark's greens guarded by large, deep sand bunkers. Water has an impact on just five holes, with four of these arriving deep into the back nine.

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In-Form Attendees

Among the usual suspects who have a great chance of walking away with this week's top prize are: Rory McIlroy 9/25.50, Tommy Fleetwood 15/28.50 and Tyrrell Hatton 6/17.00.

All are in good form; all have registered numerous top-six finishes at the Earth Course; and all three feel at home when competing in desert conditions.

McIlroy is a two-time winner at the venue, along with his seven other top-six finishes.

Fleetwood and Hatton have twice finished runner-up here. The latter is a remarkably high No 18 in the world, and No 6 in the Race to Dubai standings, despite spending much of 2024 on the Saudi-based LIV Tour.

A little further down the pecking order is Englishman Matt Wallace 18/119.00 who certainly enjoys taking on the big names.

The 34-year-old is a five-time winner on the DP World Tour, with his latest victory arriving at Crans-sur-Sierre in early September.

In four previous visits to the Earth Course he has bagged a brace of podium finishes, and was tied-third in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

Finally, two other possible contenders this week are Shane Lowry 16/117.00 and Thorbjorn Olesen 20/121.00.

Lowry is one of the most consistent performers in world golf right now, and is a former runner-up in this event.

His most recent DP World Tour title, however, came more than two years ago at Wentworth.

Olesen, meanwhile, is on a run of four straight top-12 finishes, and he was a winner in the Middle East back in January. The Dane is certainly a strong each-way candidate in Dubai.

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Stroke Averages

Lowest 10 At Earth Course (2018-23)
Average .... (Rounds)
68.92: Tommy Fleetwood (24)
69.10: Rory McIlroy (20)
69.44: Matt Wallace (16)
69.58: Min Woo Lee (12)
69.63: Laurie Canter (8)
69.69: Adrian Otaegui (16)
69.79: Tyrrell Hatton (24)
70.00: Thriston Lawrence (8)
70.00: Adrian Meronk (12)
70.13: Rasmus Hojgaard (16)
Min. No. of Rounds = 8
Only those competing this week are included in table

Note: List Contains Leading Reserves

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