Dubai has split its big prizes before, and interestingly, Sunday could do it again. Last year, Matt Fitzpatrick won the season finale in a playoff while Rory McIlroy won the Race to Dubai. This time, the two storylines belong to a pair of former LIV Golf players. Tyrrell Hatton is the 54-hole leader at the DP World Tour Championship, while Eugenio Chacarra is projected to win the season-long title and says he wants more.
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Asked how the hunger for Sunday compares with his other chances on the DP World Tour, Chacarra did not talk about the points list. He said: “Yeah, I mean, I just want to win the tournament. I’m not far away. I think I’m three shots out now. Hopefully they don’t make a lot of birdies coming in and I have a shot tomorrow. I know if I win the tournament, I win the ranking.”
Hatton finished the day nine under, four clear of Chacarra, but the logic holds. Chacarra entered the week 533.93 points clear of McIlroy, and the only way for him to guarantee first place is to win.
Has either man been here before? Hatton is a two-time runner-up in this event, and last week he finished second to Jon Rahm in Abu Dhabi. Last year’s split shows the season-long crown doesn’t require the tournament win, but Chacarra says he wants both.
Tyrrell Hatton’s Unfinished Business in Dubai
Tyrrell Hatton shot a 68 to lead by one over Victor Perez, and his round included an eagle on the second hole. His round nearly slipped on the 18th, where he drove into the creek, hit his next shot into a bunker, and still got up and down for par. A win would be his ninth DP World Tour title and a joint-record sixth Rolex Series victory (the tour’s top-tier events), and his first since leaving LIV Golf.
“I know tomorrow is going to be a tough day,” he said.
His stakes are different from Chacarra’s, because he played on LIV this season. Hatton is ineligible for the 10 PGA Tour cards on offer through the Race to Dubai, and the best he can finish in the standings is second. For him, this is about the trophy and the proof that he can finish.
Eugenio Chacarra’s Road From LIV to the Brink
Eugenio Chacarra signed out of Oklahoma State as the No. 2 amateur in the world and joined LIV in 2022, where he won in Bangkok. He later earned full DP World Tour status by winning the 2025 Hero Indian Open, and this is his first full season. He has won three times in 2026, at the KLM Open, the Italian Open and the DP World India Championship, where he took over the Race to Dubai lead. A title would make him just the third Spaniard to win it.
As LIV Golf fades, he has become one of the clearest examples of a player who left and thrived.
He also sounds relaxed: “I think all of my goals have been done this season.”
How the Race to Dubai Could Still Flip
The Race to Dubai is the DP World Tour’s season-long points list, and its winner earns the Harry Vardon Trophy. McIlroy has won it seven times and is chasing a record-equalling eighth. On Saturday, he was paired with Hatton and followed an eagle at the seventh with three straight bogeys on his way to a 72. Before the week, Chacarra said of McIlroy, “the odds are on him and he’s the favorite.”
The points are lopsided. The winner this week earns 2,000 points, second place 1,335 and third 752. McIlroy will clinch the title if he finishes ahead of Chacarra and in the top four. Both men sit at five under, tied for fourth and four shots behind Hatton. Rahm, six back, can still take the Race to Dubai with a win. Patrick Reed’s 77 on Friday damaged his hopes.
This could signal how little separates the two prizes. If Chacarra charges up the leaderboard to chase Hatton, he also protects his title. If Hatton wobbles, as he nearly did at the 18th, the door could open for a surprise winner.
Sunday asks different questions of both men. Hatton, whose lead is a single shot, must close out a tournament he has come close to winning before. Chacarra must play with the Race to Dubai trophy and the event title both in sight.
Whatever happens, the weekend shows how much the DP World Tour’s post-LIV era is shaping its biggest stage. Two former LIV players, one chasing a first win since leaving the circuit and one chasing a first Race to Dubai crown, will help decide how its season ends.