The 2026 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship will feel less like the start of the climax to the DP World Tour season than a Ryder Cup reunion party.
Eight of the players from Europe’s thrilling win in New York back in September will be on show at Yas Links, for the penultimate event of the Race to Dubai from November 6 to 9.
Rory McIlroy will be playing for the Falcon Trophy for the first time since winning the Masters. He will be joined by fellow Team Europe stars Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, Ludvig Aberg, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tyrrell Hatton, Rasmus Hojgaard and Robert MacIntyre.
Even though it will feel much like getting the band back together, there is also some serious business at hand in the capital.
What are the DP World Tour play-offs?
The tournament in Abu Dhabi is the first leg of the season ending play-offs. The Tour describe the play-offs as “the final sprint” of the season, but it is more like a middle-distance race than a sprint.
Since 2009, the leading players in the rankings vied for the final points on offer at the Earth Course, in a last push down the season’s home straight.
Now there is an additional inflation of ranking points at the penultimate tournament of the season at Yas, too.
How does it work?
The top 70 available players in the Race to Dubai standings will tee it up at Yas, with the top 50 after that set for the season finale at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
There are 9,000 ranking points on offer at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and 10,000 available at the DP World Tour Championship next week. The points are allocated based on finishing positions in the tournaments.
Why is Lowry there?
Lowry has not played much on the DP World Tour this season, and is way down the Race to Dubai rankings.
The 2019 Abu Dhabi champion is entitled to return to the tournament, though, because of his inclusion – not to mention starring role – in Luke Donald’s European Ryder Cup team.
The 2025 Ryder Cup players are exempt and included in the field, in addition to the leading 70 players on the Race to Dubai rankings. “I’ll be giving it everything to finish the year on a high,” Lowry said.
Sepp Straka, another of the Ryder Cup players, had been due to feature in the play-offs. He pulled out last week, though, due to personal issues.
Who can win it?
McIlroy is in pole position to win a fourth Race to Dubai in a row. He has only played nine counting tournaments, but has led the rankings ever since winning the Masters at Augusta in April.
His only realistic challenger for the order of merit crown is Marco Penge. The 27-year-old Englishman has won in China, Denmark and Spain this year.
He is second in the race, with Hatton, who won the Dubai Desert Classic at the start of the year before heading off to play LIV Golf, in third.
What about Abu Dhabi?
The Falcon Trophy remains conspicuous by its absence from McIlroy’s bulging trophy cabinet. The Northern Irishman has never won in the capital, despite being a regular participant on both the National Course – where the tournament used to be played – and now Yas Links.
Fleetwood might be relatively low in the Race to Dubai rankings, but his form heading into the event is red hot.
The Dubai resident won the DP World India Championship in October, having recently broken his duck on the US PGA Tour as well, winning the Tour Championship.
The world No 5, who was Europe’s outstanding player at the Ryder Cup, has also won twice previously in Abu Dhabi.
Champions’ curse
One notable absentee at Yas Links this week will be the defending champion. Paul Waring said it would be life changing after his maiden Rolex Tour title in Abu Dhabi 12 months ago helped earn him a place on the US PGA Tour.
Maybe so, but it has not been for the better for the Dubai resident. The Englishman has struggled with injury for almost all of the time since, and has made just one cut all year.
Title defences have often been fraught with problems in the capital. Victor Perez won in 2023, then did not return the following year.
Before that, Thomas Pieters had won the title, then failed to make the cut in his defence of it.
Admission
General admission tickets are free for Thursday and Friday. For the weekend days, tickets start at just Dh100 and are available here.
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