Stage is set for the inaugural Golf in Dubai Championship

Gulf Today Report

The inaugural edition of the Golf in Dubai Championship, aprelude to the DP World Championship, will tee off at the Fire Course in Jumeirah Golf Estates on Dec.2.

A constellation of stars will descend on Dubai to battle it out for the top honours at the season-ending double-header.

The tournament has attracted some of the world’s best golfers in its first edition which shows its stature. The tournament is also the penultimate event of the Race to Dubai.

The Race to Dubai -- spanning 47 tournaments in 31 countries across five continents -- is a season-long competition to crown the European Tour’s No 1 player. Formerly known as the Order of Merit, points are accumulated based on a tournament points system, with the five top-ranked players at the end of the season sharing a $5 million Race to Dubai bonus pool, which includes $2 million for the winner.

The 50 highest ranked players on the European Tour’s Race to Dubai are invited to contest the final event of the season, the $8 million DP World Tour Championship, Dubai -- a Rolex Series event and the richest tournament prize in golf with $3 million for the winner.

Meanwhile, a high-caliber cast of characters are hoping to light up the course, including a smattering of Major champions, a host of Ryder Cup heroes and countless European Tour winners from this season and beyond.

Major winners Danny Willett and Martin Kaymer headline the field and both have past experience of success in the UAE, with Willett winning the 2016 Omega Dubai Desert Classic and 2018 DP World Tour Championship and Kaymer triumphing three times at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship throughout his career.

Englishman Aaron Rai can put himself into contention to take the Race to Dubai crown with what would be his second win of the campaign, following a maiden Rolex Series title at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open.

Ryder Cup stars in the field include Thorbjorn Olesen, Chris Wood, Nicolas Colsaerts, Stephen Gallacher, Victor Dubuisson, Thomas Pieters, Ross Fisher and Andy Sullivan.