The players to watch in Dubai

The DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, contested this week at Jumeirah Golf Estates, celebrates its 10th edition as the finish of the European Tour-season. Lee Westwood took off with a sixteen romp in his debut in 2009, which still stands as the biggest profit margin of the tournament and was matched by Henrik Stenson in 2013.

It was also the first of four times in which the DP World Tour winner also finished on top of the title race Race to Dubai, with Westwood later accompanied by Rory McIlroy (2012, 2015) and Stenson (2013).

Although this year's point competition is essentially Francesco Molinari from Italy and Tommy Fleetwood from England – now known as Moliwood because of their teamwork at the Ryder Cup this year – several other top golfers have the chance to win Finishing touch to their remarkable seasons.

Rory McIlroy

After he was in the edition last year to have a rib injury, the pro from Northern Ireland is back in a place where his record is unrivaled with two victories, a share of second and no finish lower than eleventh in his eight visits

Despite only a record of 2-3 on the Ryder Cup, including a hard-fought loss for Justin Thomas in the Sunday basehits, McIlroy saw his results on a solid upward trend since the couple for the second time behind Molinari at the British Open. That started a series of five top-12 finishes in eight events, including three in the FedExCup playoffs of the PGA Tour.

Sergio García

Despite the raised eyebrows when Thomas Bjorn, the European captain, added him to the selection, García from Spain did what he always seems to do at Ryder Cups: win points, stimulate his teammates and put a needle in the hope of the United States. He went 3-1 in France and passed Nick Faldo as a leader in the career in Europe.

Only the selection to represent Europe seemed to throw a spark in the shape of García when he broke from one of his worst seasons for the Ryder Cup with a top 10 in Portugal. In his first two starts after France, he captured a second consecutive Andalucia Valderrama Masters-crown and finished second at the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

Jon Rahm

The defending champion of DP World Tour was the second time since his emotional Sunday at Le Golf National, when a 2 & 1 singles triumph over Tiger Woods was interrupted by a throat sound and tears handshake with his idol.

Rahm slowly left by shooting at 73-76 at the WGC HSBC Champions, while he pushes up at the weekend to finish with a 22nd share. The 24-year-old Spaniard is one of only three men who won several Rolex Series events in his two-year history, the other victory came in a six-way romp at the Irish Open last year

Patrick Reed

Do not look now, but the Masters champion comes to number 4 in Dubai at season 4, although his deficit of just over 1.44 million points behind Molinari is too big to conquer. A victory in the tournament, however, can serve as a silent explanation after the dissatisfaction he expressed when he went home from France.

Reed said he felt blinded by the decision to break a partnership with Jordan Spieth who had a 4-1-2 record on the previous two Ryder Cups, also criticized the captain's decision, Jim Furyk, to sit him for two sessions. After having taken the lead in China for the first day, Reed said, "Ryder Cup was three, four weeks ago, and at the moment I'm just trying to play great golf."

Li Haotong

In a banner year, Li became the first Chinese man to crack the top 50 in the world rankings by winning the Dubai Desert Classic. He has a chance to finish with a victory 10 months later in the same city.

Li almost captured his first victory at the Rolex Series at the Turkish Airlines Open and took a lead of three shots on the last day before Justin Rose chased him to get the upper hand in a playoff. Despite the disappointment, it was Li's fourth consecutive finish of 11 or better, followed by another top five at the Nedbank Challenge.

Thorbjorn Olesen

A career renaissance after three years of injuries blossomed this year for the 28-year-old Dane, resulting in his first Ryder Cup selection and Jumeirah Golf Estates at number 7 in the pursuit.

A victory over the Italian Open, where he stopped Molinari, put the season of Oleson on a new course. That was the first of eight top-12 finishes in a series of 14 starts, of which only four found him out of the top 20. Although he only stopped twice during the Ryder Cup, one of those parties was a strong 5 & 4 drone from Spieth in

Eddie Pepperell

Sidelined the last three weeks through back problems Pepperell has sworn to do everything he can to bring a good finish to a breakthrough season, highlighted by his first two European Touro victories, with the Qatar Masters and the British Masters.

The 27-year-old Englishman also has two runner-up finishes in 2018 at the Portugal Masters and the Scottish Open, which made him appear in the top 40 of the world ranking for the first time. Before this year his highest rank was 80 in 2015. Pepperell has also proven to be one of the more colorful players, with a quirky Twitter account and a blog that can be funny and thought-provoking.

Henrik Stenson

Last seen when placing a 3-0 character at the Ryder Cup, topped off by a 5 & 4 singles romp on Bubba Watson, the Swede for the first time since the operation to finally tackle an elbow injury when he returned from France.

A part-time resident of Dubai, Stenson joins McIlroy as the only two-fold winner of the DP World Tour crown, doing it back-to-back in 2013 and & # 39; 14. An injury-ridden season caused him to finish last year, but he finished just outside his top 10 in his last five starts on Jumeirah.