Patrick Reed and Collin Morikawa are first and third respectively in the Race to Dubai standings and have high hopes of winning the season-long points race going into the final event – the DP World Tour Championship at the Earth Course.
With a $3m first prize on offer to the DP World Tour Championship victor – and even greater fortunes available for Race to Dubai success – it is little wonder that Reed and Morikawa have decided to trek from the States to the Middle East.
Reed can be backed at 15/2 for the DPWTC, having registered form figures of 10-10-2-28 from the last four editions of the tournament. The Texan has finished in the top 15 in his last five events, including third spot in the BMW PGA Championship in his last regulation European Tour outing.
Morikawa, the US PGA champion, is making his Earth Course debut. He is the highest-ranked player in the field (seventh) but 14/1 is on offer because his form has dipped, with 50th place in the Zozo Championship followed by 44th in the Masters.
Hovland Looking to Build on Mexico Win
Joint-third in the betting for the European Tour’s finale is Viktor Hovland, who won the Mayakoba Classic in Mexico on Sunday night.
The brilliant Norwegian youngster has claimed two PGA Tour titles despite being a professional for only 18 months – and both his victories have come with a gutsy final-hole birdie to triumph by a shot. Hovland can be backed at 12/1 to follow his Mayakoba heroics with DPWTC glory.
The 23-year-old, who failed to qualify for last month’s Masters, has rocketed up to 15th in the world rankings and could easily take a shine to the Earth Course on his maiden visit.
Five of Hovland’s last six tournaments have yielded a top-15 finish and 11 of his 16 post-lockdown appearances have resulted in a top-25, so there have not been many players on the planet producing more consistent golf.
Perez Could Challenge For Both Titles
Victor Perez has not competed since finishing 46th on his Masters debut last month, but the Frenchman is well suited to the Earth Course and should quickly shake off any rust.
Perez can be backed at 35/1 for DPWTC success, which seems a generous price when you consider he tied for 20th place on his Earth Course debut 12 months ago, closing with a 67 which indicated he had got a handle on the track.
Perez finished runner-up to Tyrrell Hatton in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in October, raising his game in the European Tour’s flagship event, and elite fields seem to bring out the best in the Dundee-based swinger.
Another runner-up effort came in the Abu Dhabi Championship in January – courtesy of a final-round 63 – and that underlines the comfort Perez feels on long desert layouts where his powerful, consistent tee-to-green game can be shown to such good effect.
*All odds correct at time of writing