Race to Dubai change benefits Harrington in Dubai
Padraig Harrington. Photo by Darren Carroll/PGA of America
Due to the fact that Sergio Garcia and Patrick Reed are unable to fulfil their minimum event obligations for the 2021 season, both have been removed from the 2021 Race to Dubai Rankings.
Their removal is good news for Pádraig Harrington, who moves from 58th to 56th and now only needed a top 10 finish rather than a top 7 to make the top 51 who qualify for next week’s DP World Tour Championship.
Harrington started on the back nine on the Fire Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates, but while he bogeyed the par-three 11th, he birdied the 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 18th to turn in four-under before parring his way home.
His four-under 68 left him tied for 16th, five strokes behind Joachim B Hansen of Denmark, whose nine-under 63 gave him a two-shot lead over South Africa’s Dean Burmester, defending champion Antoine Rozner of France, who played with Harrington, and England’s Andy Sullivan.
As both players would have qualified on merit, both have been granted a special exemption by CEO Keith Pelley to the DP World Tour Championship, in addition to the qualified field.
Garcia (who was 43rd on the Race to Dubai on 860.6pts) will definitely play but the exemption for Reed - who was previously ranked 49th in the Race to Dubai – is dependent on his accumulated points total (783.5) being greater than the points of the last-placed player to qualify for the DP World Tour Championship as of the conclusion of the AVIV Dubai Championship this weekend.
Obviously, neither will be eligible for Race to Dubai points or any related bonus next week.
Secondly, although Garcia and Reed are now no longer in the Race to Dubai, the cut off for the DP World Tour Championship remains at 51st place with Will Zalatoris ‘in addition (as a top 50 OWGR Affiliate Member). All other Ranked Members within the top 51 are expected to play.
A new Top 110 from the Race to Dubai will be recognised for the 2022 DP World Tour, as will the Top 20 on the European Challenge Tour’s Road to Mallorca Rankings.
This week’s AVIV Dubai Championship is the final counting event to determine the top 110 exempt players for the 2022 DP World Tour. With 11 players currently counted as “in addition” to the 110, the PROVISIONAL cut off is currently 121st position.
However, following the Tournament Committee decision in June because of continued disruption to the 2021 schedule caused by the pandemic, no current Ranked Member will lose their Membership.
Those existing Ranked Members who do not finish inside the Top 110 (121 with the additions) will be re-ranked based on the 2021 Race to Dubai, but with safety nets established within the structure to restrict movement downwards within the category system.
Finally, because of the continued impact of the pandemic, any player who missed their minimums in 2021 will be allowed to rejoin the DP World Tour in 2022 with Keith Pelley having waived the ‘Termination of Membership’ Regulation for all members in this situation.
Rookie of the Year
A panel consisting of at least two Tournament Committee Members and at least two members of the European Tour Executive will select the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award following the conclusion of the 2021 season.
There are many variables for the panel to take into consideration including but not exclusive to; the effects of the pandemic on overall playing opportunities; and the freezing of European Tour categories last year resulting in no promotion to the 2021 European Tour from the 2020 Challenge Tour or the postponed Qualifying School.
Whilst the panel will have absolute discretion in determining the recipient, the Final Race to Dubai Ranking of any player deemed to be eligible by the panel will be the main (but may not be the only) criteria used to select the recipient. Because of the move to a Panel decision this year, it is not possible to compile a shortlist of candidates at this time as has been the case in previous years.
The panel will meet and reveal their decision in December.
