The Race to Dubai format has changed several times since the concept was introduced, with a new variation of the season-long points system having started being used with the 2023-2024 DP World Tour season.
Explaining the Race to Dubai playoffs format means detailing how players earn Race to Dubai points, qualify for the final events to the DP World Tour Championship and then battle it out to see who wins the $2 million first-place prize.
2025 Race to Dubai regular season: Swings, tournaments and points
2025 Race to Dubai playoff format
The DP World Tour regular season featues seven different sections to the season, concluding with the DP World Tour Playoffs.
Leading up to that two-event playoff series are five different "swings," which are grouped by geographical regions where the DP World Tour plays. Each swing has its own ranking system of Race to Dubai points, with the leading point-earner in each swing earning a spot in the final pre-playoffs segment of the schedule, dubbed The Back 9.
The Back 9 features nine tournaments, including Rolex Series events and national opens, which offer increased Race to Dubai points.
After The Back 9 comes the DP World Tour Playoffs to conclude the season.
Race to Dubai points: How many in each event?
As has been the case since the start of the Race to Dubai, the entire DP World Tour regular season leads to the Race to Dubai conclusion, with each official DP World Tour event offering points to players who made the 36-hole cut based on a standardized system.
All tournaments in the five global swings will offer 3,000 or 4,000 points to the field. The winner of a 3,000-point event recieves 500 Race to Dubai Points, with proportional increases to 4,000 points.
In The Back 9, each tournament will offer 5,000 total Race to Dubai points and 835 points to the event winner.
Rolex Series tournaments played prior to the playoff offer 8,000 Race to Dubai Ranking points, while the four major championships each have 10,000 Race to Dubai Ranking points for DP World Tour members.
DP World Tour Playoffs: Events, points and how to qualify
All of the points from regular season events are tallied together at the conclusion of the regular season, which this year came with the completion of the Genesis Championship. The top 110 players in points typically retain their status for the next season.
The top 70 players in the Race to Dubai standings at the end of those tournaments qualify for the Race to Dubai Playoffs opener in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. This tournament offers 9,000 Race to Dubai points, including 1,500 to the winner.
The top 50 available players after Abu Dhabi qualify for the DP World Tour Championship, which offers 12,000 Race to Dubai points, with 2,000 going to the champion.
The top 10 finishers in the Race to Dubai standings after the DP World Tour Championship claim a share of the bonus pool.
DP World Tour Championship format
Starting in 2019, the DP World Tour Championship format is a 72-hole, stroke-play tournament with no handicaps or cut. The player who wins the event earns 2,000 Race to Dubai points, and each player completing the event earns points. At the conclusion, the points leader wins the season-long race.
However, there remains great incentive to win the season-ending tournament. The tournament features a $10 million purse, with a $3 million first-place prize.
Win both the season finale and the season-long race, and a player claims a huge payday, including $2 million for the season-long race.
