Race to Dubai 2018/19: Final Series Preview

It's all come down to this. The 2018/19 European Tour season has entered its final stretch as we look to determine who will be crowned Race to Dubai Champion and, in doing so, bag a cool $2,000,000 bonus.

To help whet your appetite for the tri-tournament series, we have gathered together a preview of each of the Final Series events. Check out what's on offer over the next few weeks on the European Tour as the world's best golfers aim to survive to Dubai's flagship finale on November 21.

Turkish Airlines Open

Played at The Montgomerie Maxx Royal in Antalya, the Turkish Airlines Open is often a hotly contested event and one that has thrown up some high-profile winners over the years.

The top 70 golfers in the Race to Dubai standings will arrive aiming to put in a strong showing, while there will be some with a firm focus on making it to the Nedbank the following week - particularly those around the cutline.

Our pick in Turkey: Haotong Li

Nedbank Golf Challenge

The Nedbank Golf Challenge continues in its place as the penultimate event of the entire European Tour season. By the time we reach Gary Player CC at Sun City in South Africa we will be down to a field of just the top 60 golfers each looking to finish the season well. With Dubai only one week away, it's not the time to falter.

The golf course itself plays at altitude but, irrespective of the ball flying a little farther, this is still a long track. At over 7,800 yards, this is a crisp ball striker’s paradise. Those who can marry distance with control over the four days will be in pretty good shape.

Our pick in South Africa: Matt Fitzpatrick

DP World Tour Championship

The field heading to the seasonal finale in Dubai will have been slashed to the top 50 in the standings after the two previous Final Series events.

That field will be playing for the largest pay-cheque in any professional golf tournament ever. This includes each and every major championship or PGA Tour event, and comes in at $1.67 million more than Danny Willett was paid for his victory last year.

As a separate consideration, a $5M bonus pool is also waiting to be shared amongst the top five golfers in the standings. Even the most financially secure will be aiming to survive to the DP World Tour Championship where each man in the field will have at least a puncher's chance of taking home a handsome reward.

Our Pick in Dubai: Rory McIlroy

Current State of Play

Austrian Bernd Weisberger leads the way in the 2018/19 Race to Dubai standings after three European Tour wins in 2019 so far. The first of these came at the Made in Denmark back in May and was followed by two Rolex Series wins - the ASI Scottish Open and the Italian Open.

Sitting behind Weisberger in the rankings is Jon Rahm. The Spaniard will, of course, be aiming to cut the point deficit between the two but has elected to miss this week's Turkish Airlines Open. Shane Lowry sits in third and is highly motivated to add the Race to Dubai crown to his first major title - the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portush.

Rory McIlroy may become a contender of note thanks to his win at the WGC HSBC Champions event in Shanghai. Despite an intention not to play again until the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, he can still mathematically walk away with the Tour title.

A few shots from the sandtraps of Jumeirah Golf Estates just like this one will certainly help the Northern Irishman's cause...

Last Year's Champ

The 2018 Race to Dubai title was a close-run thing between the duo affectionately dubbed 'MoliWiood' by the golfing media. It was Italian Francesco Molinari who ultimately prevailed over his great friend Tommy Fleetwood and this capped off a great season within which he was also crowned Champion Golfer of the Year.

Having only played in 9 events on the European Tour this year, and given that he is yet to secure a win in 2019, 'Frankie' is down in 24th place in the current standings. He's certainly not out of it, but it will take something special to retain the title from here we suspect.

You can catch the highlights of last year's final round below...

Who do you think will win the 2019 Race to Dubai title? Let us know in the comments below.

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