DP World Tour Championship preview · Jumeirah Golf Estates, Earth course · 12–15 November 2026
For the first time in years, the Race to Dubai heads into its final act with real uncertainty over whose name will go on the Harry Vardon Trophy. The top 50 players in the rankings will tee it up on the Earth course at Jumeirah Golf Estates from 12–15 November. The contenders read like a review of the 2026 season: three reigning Major champions inside the top six, a Spanish leader in the form of his life, a 23-year-old South African on the rise, and a former Masters champion who knows exactly how it feels to come up short in Dubai.
The Abu Dhabi Championship at Yas Links (5–8 November) will reshuffle the points one last time, but every road leads to the Earth course.
McIlroy chasing number eight
Rory McIlroy has made the Harry Vardon Trophy close to a personal possession. He has won it seven times: 2012, 2014, 2015 and four in a row from 2022 to 2025. That leaves him one short of Colin Montgomerie’s record of eight, and victory this year would draw him level with the Scot.
McIlroy’s 2026 will be remembered for Augusta. In April he became only the fourth man to win back-to-back Masters, joining Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods. He made it hard for himself, letting slip a record six-shot halfway lead before holding on to beat Scottie Scheffler by one at 12 under. It was his sixth Major title.
He has played a limited DP World Tour schedule, and a share of 42nd in Delhi last time out cost him ground. But he is a three-time winner of this event, and the man he is chasing knows the danger. After his win in India, Eugenio Chacarra admitted that Rory always plays well in Dubai and that a big battle lies ahead.
Three Major champions in the top six
What makes this finale distinctive is the weight of Major silverware near the top of the standings. Alongside McIlroy sit two first-time Major winners whose seasons changed their careers.
Aaron Rai won the PGA Championship at Aronimink in May on nine under. He became the first Englishman to lift the Wanamaker Trophy since Jim Barnes more than a century ago. Remarkably, it was his first top-ten finish in a Major. The Wolverhampton man is known for his two gloves, his iron covers and his loyalty to a driver released in 2019. He has played only a handful of DP World Tour events this season yet sits inside the top five. He also has recent form in the Gulf, having beaten Tommy Fleetwood in a play-off to win in Abu Dhabi last November. His precision off the tee and with his irons has been underrated for years.
Ryan Fox lifted the Claret Jug at Royal Birkdale in July. He birdied four of his last six holes, including the 72nd, to finish on ten under and beat Cameron Young by a shot. His third-round 62 matched the lowest score in Major history. At 39, Fox became only the second New Zealander to win The Open, after Bob Charles at Royal Lytham in 1963. The son of All Blacks great Grant Fox, he was a DP World Tour rookie at 30 and is the very definition of a late bloomer. He is also one of the longest hitters in the field, which is a real asset on the Earth course, and he was in contention in Korea this week.
Together, McIlroy, Rai and Fox show how DP World Tour members dominated the men’s Majors in 2026, winning three of the four. Any one of them would be a fitting European Number One.
Chacarra: the man they all have to catch
The player they are all chasing is Eugenio Chacarra. The 26-year-old Spaniard has been the busiest and most consistent performer on Tour this season. He has played 29 events, with three wins, two runner-up finishes and two thirds.
He won back-to-back in June at the KLM Open and the Open d’Italia, where he finished 24 under and five clear in Turin. Near misses followed in France and at his home Spanish Open, which he played with a fractured toe. Then he won the DP World India Championship, completing 25 holes on the final day in Delhi to overtake long-time leader Patrick Reed at the top of the rankings.
That heavy schedule cuts both ways. Chacarra is match-sharp and confident, but the final fortnight is the most demanding of the season, and he arrives with the leader’s target on his back. Victory would see him follow Seve Ballesteros, who was European Number One six times, and Jon Rahm, who won in 2019 and 2022. He would be only the third Spaniard to lift the Harry Vardon Trophy. Chacarra has called both men his heroes, and the chance to join Seve on that trophy is the motivation of his career.
Jarvis: South Africa’s rising star
Casey Jarvis is the outsider with momentum. The 23-year-old South African was long touted as a winner in waiting. As a rookie in 2024 he played 34 events, more than anyone else on Tour, and in February the breakthrough finally came.
He won his maiden title at the Magical Kenya Open in his 84th start. A week later he made it back-to-back with a three-shot victory at his national Open in Stellenbosch, which earned him first appearances at the Masters and The Open. He made the most of that chance with a top-ten finish at Royal Birkdale.
Jarvis led after the first round in Korea this week, shared the halfway lead, and went into Sunday two shots off the pace. He has said his goal is a PGA Tour card, but a strong finish in Abu Dhabi and Dubai could deliver something even bigger.
Reed: unfinished business on the Earth course
Patrick Reed led the standings from February until October after winning the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, a four-shot Rolex Series victory, and the Qatar Masters. The 2018 Masters champion will make his eighth appearance at the DP World Tour Championship and knows the Earth course intimately.
He has come agonisingly close here before. Reed was runner-up to Danny Willett in 2018. In 2020 he arrived as Race to Dubai leader and shared the 54-hole lead, then bogeyed three of his last seven holes to finish third as Lee Westwood took the title. Victory this time would make him only the second American European Number One, after Collin Morikawa in 2021. Reed skipped Korea to freshen up, so expect him to arrive in Dubai ready.
Horses for the Earth course
What sort of player wins on the Earth course?
- Length off the tee.At around 7,700 yards, the Earth course is one of the longest on Tour. Big hitters can reach the par fives with mid-irons, and bombers have historically done well here.
- Long-iron and approach play.The greens are large and heavily contoured, so finding the right section from 180 yards and beyond separates the contenders from the pack.
- Par-five scoring.The week is often decided on the long holes, ending with the 620-yard par-five 18th with water in play, which can produce eagles or disasters.
- Lag putting and nerve.Matthew Fitzpatrick’s two wins here, in 2016 and 2020, show that precision and a hot putter can beat raw power on these big, undulating greens.
- Experience. Course knowledge matters on a layout where the bunkering and run-offs punish the wrong miss.
