The European Tour season has reached its final destination as the best 60 players over the campaign so far head to Dubai for the DP World Tour Championship where the Race to Dubai crown will be decided in a lucrative week.
The cast list for this event is stellar despite some high profile withdrawals. The attention will be on three men in particular – Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia. They all tee it up with the potential to win the Race to Dubai title but all 60 men in the field could win the tournament, the final Rolex Series event of the season.
Recent Winners
2016 – Matthew Fitzpatrick
2015 – Rory McIlroy
2014 – Henrik Stenson
2013 – Henrik Stenson
2012 – Rory McIlroy
2011 – Alvaro Quiros
2010 – Robert Karlsson
2009 – Lee Westwood
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The Course
The Earth Course at the Jumeiral Golf Estates is the venue for the tournament once again this week. The track is a bit of a brute at 7,706 yards for a par 72 although the dry heat and humidity means the ball flies further so it does not play that long in total.
This is a bombers track. The fairways are wide and the greens are large so the bigger hitters can pin their ears back and release hell on their ball. The better putters will generally make it to the top of the leaderboard but there is little on offer for being short this week. Grip it, rip it and hole plenty is the order of the day.
The Field
Only 60 men tee it up in this tournament. Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson are unfortunate withdrawals but the likes of Justin Rose, Jon Rahm and the Masters champion Sergio Garcia give the event a massive profile.
There are big names everywhere you look this week though. Defending champion Matthew Fitzpatrick is here as is the Nedbank Golf Challenge winner Branden Grace. Tyrrell Hatton, Charl Schwartzel, Patrick Reed, Tommy Fleetwood, Martin Kaymer and Lee Westwood are just some of the household names teeing it up here.
Market Leaders
Justin Rose goes for three wins in a row this week and if he is successful he will add a fourth title to his purple patch as he would be guaranteed the Race to Dubai crown on top. He is 13/2 to claim the title but even as well as he is playing that looks a tight price given the quality that is opposing him this week.
Jon Rahm should be perfectly suited to this track and he is 12/1 to win what may well be the biggest title in his career so far. He can’t afford any mistakes in a field of this quality though and you do just wonder if his shaky temperament could find him out at some point. His price is on the tight side too I have to say.
Sergio Garcia needs to win the tournament and have a couple of things go his way to claim the Race to Dubai title. He is 14/1 to do his part of the bargain and given that he won the Dubai Desert Classic earlier in the season he is looking for a Dubai double in the calendar year. He isn’t as long as some in this field but he definitely has the class to win.
Tyrrell Hatton, Branden Grace and Matthew Fitzpatrick are all 16/1 to win the title. Fitzpatrick is the defending champion which I always think is a negative with the restrictions put on the time of whoever defends a title. Branden Grace won what he would call his fifth major last week and I would expect him to have been celebrating that. Hatton completely messed up the Abu Dhabi Championship earlier in the year but was third in the other Dubai event. He can’t be ruled out. It is 25/1 bar.
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Main Bets
The market this week is extremely tight with nearly all of the big hitters shorter than they might be on another week but it is hard to look away from them. I will go with three main bets all of whom are big hitters.
Victor Dubuisson loves desert golf. He has a wonderful record in this tournament with three top four finishes here in the last four years and he also has a top five in Abu Dhabi. We all remember his exploits in the WGC Matchplay when it was in Tucson too and he went well last week as well. This course suits the Frenchman perfectly and having knocked on the door twice recently I’ll back him to smash it down this week.
Me and Rafa Cabrera Bello have history in the desert after I was on him when he messed up a final round a couple of years ago but he generally has a good record in Dubai. He has a win and a second in the other Dubai tournament and five top 25 finishes in this one. We know he has all the tools needed to play courses like this and if he can stay solid on Sunday this title may well finally come his way.
Nicolas Colsaerts is producing some nice rounds of golf at the minute and on a golf course where he can get the driver out and crack it miles if he can put four more together he could take a bit of stopping. He should have won in Turkey a couple of weeks ago but he can make up for that by going very close to the title this week.
Outsiders
I’m going to stick with an outsider from the last couple of weeks in case he chooses this week to do what I’ve been predicting him to do for a while. That is Dylan Frittelli who should go well here. He is a powerful hitter off the tee and we’ve seen him hole a number of putts over the course of the year. He may well take inspiration from seeing his fellow South African win last week and if he does and his putter is hot he shouldn’t be far away here.
Tips
Back V.Dubuisson to win DP World Tour Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-6)
Back R.Cabrera Bello to win DP World Tour Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 31.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-6)
Back N.Colsaerts to win DP World Tour Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-6)
Back them here:
PLACED – Back D.Frittelli to win DP World Tour Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 151.00 with Unibet (1/4 1-5)
Back him here:
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Great effot with Fritelli Kev. Gut wrenching the last two holes which ultimately cost him a chance of victory.
Cheers mate. Story of my season sadly!