The DP World Tour ‘Race to Dubai’ to return from 2023

Rory McIlroy celebrates winning the DP World Tour’s Harry Vardon Trophy for the fourth time in his career. David Cannon

By GolfDigestME.com
The DP World Tour Rankings, the DP World Tour’s season-long competition to crown its No. 1 player, will be renamed the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex from the 2023 season onwards.

The Race to Dubai is, of course, a familiar name having previously been the title of the points-based ranking from 2009 until 2021.

It was renamed the DP World Tour Rankings for the 2022 season, when DP World became the title partner of the European Tour group’s main Tour.

Now, with the support of Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism, it will revert back to the Race to Dubai brand from next season when the leading eight players will share an increased bonus pool of $6million as part of an overall $144.2million prize fund across a minimum of 39 tournaments in 26 countries on the DP World Tour’s 2023 global schedule.

Speaking about the new agreement, Guy Kinnings, Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Commercial Officer of the DP World Tour, said: “The Race to Dubai is a strong narrative for us, reflecting our season-long contest which builds towards the final Rolex Series event of the year in Dubai, our DP World Tour Championship, where we crown our No. 1 player. We are therefore pleased to be bringing it back with the support of Rolex and this announcement further cements the long-standing relationship between the DP World Tour and the Emirate of Dubai — a relationship that dates back to the first staging of the Dubai Desert Classic in 1989.

“Our partnership continues to drive significant exposure for Dubai and its leading businesses on a global scale. The 2023 DP World Tour season promises to be one of our most exciting yet, with a record prize fund on offer. We look forward to seeing which player earns the right to be named the Race to Dubai champion at the DP World Tour Championship next November.”

Past Race to Dubai champions include star names such as Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood and Collin Morikawa.

The 2023 Race to Dubai will begin from November 24-27, 2022, with two tournaments — the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship and the Joburg Open in South Africa — co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour of Australasia and the Sunshine Tour respectively.

It will conclude with the $10million DP World Tour Championship which will take place at Jumeirah Golf Estates for the 15th consecutive year from November 16-19, 2023.