The PGA Tour has a regular FedEx Cup season and the Playoffs (the FedEx St. Jude Championship and the BMW Championship). It all ends with the season finale, the TOUR Championship. The European circuit has its own version of a season-long race, the Race to Dubai. It incentivizes consistent performance throughout the competitive schedule. Golfers accumulate points from major tournaments and the DP World Tour events spanning 27 countries. Every swing, every putt, and every leaderboard score adds to the race.
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The Race to Dubai format has changed multiple times over the years. The current format was finalized in the 2023-2024 season. Here’s a complete breakdown of how the Race to Dubai works.
2025 Race to Dubai events format
Golfers get to play 42 events, including majors, on a full schedule based on eligibility and availability. The tour started with five matches from the Opening Swing. It included two matches in Australia in November 2024. From there, the tour moved to South Africa for two games in December before completing the year in Mauritius with a single event.
The tour then moves to the International Swing, which includes one team event and seven individual tournaments. The tour event, however, does not allow winning Race to Dubai points. These events spread across the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kenya, and South Africa. Next comes the Asian Swing, which included 4 tournaments across Singapore, India, and China.
The Masters was also played around this time. Stretching from May to the start of July is the European Swing. It includes 7 events, the PGA Championship, and the US Open. The DP World Tour then moves to the Closing Swing before ending with the Back 9 events.
After the regular season ends with the Back 9, there are two events on the DP World Tour Play-Offs, which are the Abu Dhabi Championship and the DP World Tour Championship. Golfers accumulate points from every tournament in which they make a cut. These points count toward the Race to Dubai rankings.
How many Race to Dubai points does each event give
The Race to Dubai points golfers can earn from each event differ from swing to swing and event to event. It ranges from 3,000 to 12,000. The table below lists all the events from the 2025 schedule and the Race to Dubai points they carried. It does not include the events from the DP World Tour schedule that do not give any Race to Dubai points.
| BMW Australia PGA Championship | 3,000 |
| ISPS Handa Australian Open | 3,000 |
| Nedbank Golf Challenge | 4,000 |
| Alfred Dunhill Championship | 3,000 |
| AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open | 3,000 |
| Hero Dubai Desert Classic | 8,000 |
| Ras Al Khaimah Championship | 3,500 |
| Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship | 3,500 |
| Commercial Bank Qatar Masters | 3,500 |
| Magical Kenya Open | 3,500 |
| Investec South African Open Championship | 3,000 |
| Joburg Open | 3,000 |
| Porsche Singapore Classic | 3,500 |
| Hero Indian Open | 3,500 |
| The Masters | 10,000 |
| Volvo China Open | 3,500 |
| Hainan Classic | 3,500 |
| Turkish Airlines Open | 3,500 |
| PGA Championship | 10,000 |
| Soudal Open | 3,500 |
| Austrian Alpine Open | 3,500 |
| KLM Open | 3,500 |
| US Open | 10,000 |
| Italian Open | 3,500 |
| BMW International Open | 3,500 |
| Genesis Scottish Open | 8,000 |
| ISCO Championship | 3,500 |
| The Open | 10,000 |
| Barracuda Championship | 3,500 |
| Nexo Championship | 3,500 |
| Danish Golf Championship | 3,500 |
| Betfred British Masters | 5,000 |
| Omega European Masters | 5,000 |
| Amgen Irish Open | 5,000 |
| BMW PGA Championship | 8,000 |
| FedEx Open De France | 5,000 |
| Alfred Dunhill Links Championship | 5,000 |
| Open De Espana | 5,000 |
| DP World India Championship | 5,000 |
| Genesis Championship | 5,000 |
| Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship | 9,000 |
| DP World Tour Championship | 12,000 |
As you can see in the pattern from the table, most events have 3,000 or 3,500 points; some signature events give 8,000 points; the Back 9 gives 5,000 points; and the majors give 10,000 points. The winner gets the most significant share, and the rest is distributed among others based on their leaderboard standings.
DP World Tour Play-Off events, points, and eligibility
There are two events in the DP World Tour Play-Offs. The first one is the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. While the top 110 on the list of Race of Dubai rankings retain their DP World Tour card, only the top 70 play the Abu Dhabi Championship. However, there’s an exception for Ryder Cup players. Those on the Ryder Cup European team get a free pass, meaning they can play the event despite not being in the top 70. Ludvig Aberg and Shane Lowry, who are ranked 80 and 112 on the list, have taken advantage of this to enter the Play-Offs. Sepp Straka (149th on the list) also planned to play the events with his Ryder Cup status, but had to withdraw because of a family emergency. This event gives away 9,000 Race to Dubai points, with 1,500 going to the winner.
The second Play-Off event is the DP World Tour Championship, giving away 12,000 Race to Dubai points. The winner claims a whopping 2,000 points. Eligibility for this event depends on the final Race to Dubai rankings after the Abu Dhabi Championship. Those in the top 50 get to play in the event. The top 10 winners of the DP World Tour Championship also get to share a claim from the $10 million prize purse. It all comes down to this final event to complete the 2025 Race to Dubai format. The golfer who leads the standings after the DP World Tour Championship is the winner of the season-long Race to Dubai.