Several players have a chance of taking title, with McIlroy aiming for a record-equalling eighth

Rory McIlroy goes into the season-closing DP World Tour Championship on The Earth course in Dubai with his destiny in his own hands. Victory will ensure the Northern Irishman lays claim to a record-equalling eighth Harry Vardon Trophy for topping the Order of Merit.

It’s not that simple, though. A win for Eugenio Chacarra, who tops the standings, would give the Spaniard a first Order of Merit. Or a win for Patrick Reed, currently third, would also give the American a first title.

Indeed, the permutations of who finishes where mean even Jon Rahm is in with a shout. The Spaniard climbed to sixth in the Race to Dubai standings with victory in Abu Dhabi at the weekend. It would, though, depend very much on how those five players ahead of him perform in the limited 50-man field.

And yet, while McIlroy eyes up a fourth straight win and the possibility of an eighth in his career to join Colin Montgomerie on that number, others have decided to stay away from the UAE given the geopolitical situation in the Middle East. This has led to the playing entry going down as far as 56th-placed Joost Luiten to complete the field. Ludvig Aberg, ranked 54th, also made himself unavailable.

Shane Lowry is one of the big names to skip the tournament, having also decided not to travel to Abu Dhabi, along with the Fitzpatrick brothers, Matt and Alex, and Australian Min Woo Lee. The players to benefit from that quartet’s absence are Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Ewen Ferguson, Victor Perez and Luiten.

McIlroy, for his part, accepted the assurances of the DP World Tour and the UAE government on the safety of playing as he bids for that record-equalling feat. He knows that a win would make all other potential scenarios irrelevant.

“I’m right in there with a great chance,” said McIlroy after his third-place finish in Abu Dhabi.

With 2,000 points to the winner available in Dubai, McIlroy trails Chacarra by 533.93 going into the tournament, which has a $10 million purse, while the leading 10 players on the final rankings will share a $6 million bonus pool. McIlroy is the lone Irish player in the field, although it won’t bring a close to his season as he is committed to playing in the Australian Open in Melbourne next month.

Meanwhile, Séamus Power – who finished tied-eighth in the World Wide Technology Championship won by teenager Blades Brown – will look to continue his strong run of form in this week’s PGA Tour stop, the Austin Championship.

Power has finished tied-seventh/tied-21st/second and tied-eighth in his last four outings on the PGA Tour, which has seen him move to 65th on the FedEx Cup Fall standings with two events (Austin and the RSM Classic) remaining. If the Waterford man can continue his progress and break into the top 60, he will earn exemptions into the first two signature events of the 2027 season, the Pebble Beach pro-am and the Genesis Invitational.

Pádraig Harrington and Darren Clarke return to action in this week’s Charles Schwab Cup Championship, the final event of the Champions Tour. Harrington currently lies in fourth on the order of merit standings led by Stewart Cink, while Clarke is in 10th.

On the LPGA Tour this week, both Leona Maguire and Lauren Walsh are in action in the Annika Driven by Gainbridge Pelican tournament in Florida, the penultimate event of the season. Walsh, currently 87th on the order of merit, is in need of a big week if she is to break into the top 60, which would secure progression to the CME Globe Tour Championship.