The DP World Tour Play-Offs get under way this week with a stellar field assembled at Yas Links for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Here are your five things to know.
The Play-Offs begin
It all comes down to this. After 40 events across five continents and 27 countries covering five Global Swings and the Back 9 we have reached the DP World Tour Play-Offs. We have so far seen 35 different winners, with 19 lifting a DP World Tour trophy for the first time, and John Parry, Laurie Canter, Keita Nakajima, Kristoffer Reitan and Marco Penge becoming Swing Champions. Rory McIlroy ended his decade-long wait for a Major at the Masters to complete the career Grand Slam and Europe won a Ryder Cup on US soil but we are not done yet. Starting this week at Yas Links and continuing into next week's DP World Tour Championship, the Play-Offs will decide who is to be crowned Europe's Number One. It's All To Play For.
Hunting McIlroy
Race to Dubai Rankings leader McIlroy arrives at Yas Links looking for a seventh Harry Vardon Trophy and fourth in a row but he may well not have it all his own way in the UAE. Three-time winner this season Marco Penge is his nearest challenger and while 441.32 points is a hefty deficit to make up, with enhanced points on offer the next two weeks, it is very much game on. McIlroy has 4,132.56 points but back-to-back wins in the Play-Offs could see a player rack up 3,500.00, with as few as 77.600 on offer for two last-place finishes. That puts not only Penge in the hunt but many others, although McIlroy is the only one with his destiny in his own hands.
Race to Dubai
The phrase has never held so much meaning as only the top 50 after this week will advance and have the chance to earn more points at the DP World Tour Championship. HotelPlanner Tour graduate Brandon Robinson Thompson arrives at Yas Links 50th in the Rankings, one place behind Jacob Skov Olesen, who is the only player in the field making his Rolex Series debut this week. Alex Fitzpatrick and Genesis Championship winner Junghwan Lee have made huge strides in recent weeks to crack the top 70 and will be looking to maintain their momentum, while those in the forties will be nervously looking over their shoulders.
Rolex Series returns
The Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship is the fourth and penultimate Rolex Series event of a season that has already seen the blue riband spectaculars produce high drama. It all started in neighbouring Dubai where Tyrrell Hatton won a record-equalling fifth Rolex Series title. Chris Gotterup then lifted the trophy at the Genesis Scottish Open before Alex Noren - the first ever Rolex Series champion at the 2017 BMW PGA Championship - brought it full circle with a second title at Wentworth Club after a play-off victory over Adrien Saddier. This week's event has been part of the Rolex Series since 2019 and has seen Shane Lowry, Lee Westwood, Hatton, Thomas Pieters, Victor Perez and Paul Waring hoist the Falcon Trophy.
Inside the field
McIlroy may take the headlines but with all of the top 18 in the Race to Dubai Rankings and 66 of the top 70 on display, he will have to overcome an elite field to finally get his hands on the trophy at an event where he has nine top threes from 13 appearances. Seven of his Ryder Cup team-mates tee it up including Tommy Fleetwood and Robert MacIntyre, both of whom are also currently in the top ten on the Official World Golf Ranking. Hatton will also be hunting another win in the desert alongside a host of winners from 2025. Last season's champion Waring is unable to defend his title due to injury.
