Four players from the top 70 of the Race to Dubai have declined their participation in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. They are, in order of ranking: Justin Rose, Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm, and Matt Wallace. This means that the qualification for the DP World Tour playoff has dropped to the 74th position. That is, the last to enter was the Englishman Joe Dean and the first to miss out was the Chinese Wenyi Ding, 75th position in the Race and first reserve for the tournament. The Asturian Iván Cantero is the third reserve.
As you know, this year they have decided to create a category for players who competed in the Ryder Cup at Bethpage for both the Abu Dhabi tournament and the Dubai Finale. Thus, through this route, even though they have not made it into the top 70 of the Race, they will be at the Yas Links course: Ludvig Aberg, Sepp Straka, and Shane Lowry.
The names of Aberg and Lowry were already known as they had been announced previously, the big news is the presence of Straka. A novelty that, moreover, has a basis. The Austrian was on the edge to meet the minimum tournament requirement set by the DP World Tour rules to maintain membership. By playing in Abu Dhabi, and if he plays in the Dubai Finale, which has not yet been announced although everything suggests he will, he will reach the minimum and maintain his membership.
There are three ways to meet the minimum tournament requirement stipulated by the DP World Tour:
– Route 1: Play four regular tournaments (excluding the Majors), provided one of them is in your home country. The example is Jon Rahm. He has played in Dubai, Wentworth, Ryder Cup, and the Open de España.
– Route 2: Play four regular tournaments (excluding the Majors), provided three of them are Rolex Series. This would be the case for Straka and Aberg. The Austrian has played the Ryder Cup and the Scottish Open. He will complete the four with Abu Dhabi and the Dubai Finale. The Scottish, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai are Rolex Series. Aberg has played the Scottish, Wentworth, and the Ryder Cup. With Abu Dhabi, he would already have covered the minimum of four. Even so, he will play five because he is also announced for Dubai.
– Route 3: Play a minimum of six regular tournaments (excluding the Majors), even if none of them are in your home country and there are not three Rolex Series.
In Abu Dhabi, we will have seven Spanish golfers, two more than last year: Ángel Ayora, Eugenio Chacarra, Jorge Campillo, Alex del Rey, Nacho Elvira, Manu Elvira, and Rafa Cabrera Bello.
