Race to Dubai Preview and Picks

The Race to Dubai is the season-long point race on DP World Tour, previously known as the European Tour, which ends with the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in November.

Players earn points in the competition that used to be called the Order of Merit, by participating in DP World Tour events and other tournaments that the Tour co-sponsors with the PGA Tour, particularly the majors and World Golf Championship (WGC) events.

Last year, Collin Morikawa became the first American to win the Race to Dubai, an honor he secured by winning the DP World Championship to stay ahead of fellow countryman Billy Horschel in the standings.

Morikawa was able to secure the title despite playing in just three standalone events on the DP World Tour and ten total qualifying events, primarily due to his victories in the Open Championship, the WGC – Workday Championship at the Concession, and the DP World Championship.

The primary reason that Morikawa was able to win the Race to Dubai without making more than a handful of DP World Tour starts is the disparity between points earned in regular Tour events and those awarded for the majors and WGC tournaments. Most standalone DP World tour events award between 2,000 and 4,250 points, while the WGC events offer 8,000 and the major tournaments award 10,000.

Two January tournaments that take place in Dubai also offer 8,000 points, giving DP World Tour participants a chance to get off to a quick start in the point standings, but those events also attract a number of PGA Tour players as well. The same holds true for the events just prior to The Open Championship, the Irish and Scottish Opens, which offer 6,000 and 8,000 points, respectively.

2022 Betting Favorites

Rory McIlroy, who won the Race to Dubai title three times in four years between 2012 and 2015 when it was still the Order of Merit, which primarily tracked prize money instead of points, is the favorite with odds of +350. The Irishman had a bit of a resurgence in 2021, winning the Wells Fargo Championship on the PGA Tour to break an 18-month winless streak.

World number one Jon Rahm is next on the odds list at +400 after coming in third in the 2021 Race to Dubai. Rahm only played in nine events, but he won the U.S. Open in June to vault him into contention in the standings. The 27-year-old from Spain already has one runner-up finish in only two events on the 2021-2022 PGA Tour and is currently the betting favorite in all four 2022 major championships.

Morikawa is next at +450 and has positioned himself, with two major championships and a pair of WGC victories in the past two seasons, as one of the true superstars of the game. He entered the FedEx Cup playoffs as the leader in that competition and in a position to become the second player to win both point competitions but faltered down the stretch.

Another young up and coming player, Viktor Hovland from Norway, is at +900 after a 17th place finish in the 2021 Race to Dubai standings.

Elevated status on the PGA Tour and in the Official World Golf Rankings will give him access to all of the 2022 major championships and WGC events, increasing his opportunities to compile points in more tournaments.