Dubai’s DP World Tour Championship is redefining professional golf with luxury, sophistication and an array of premium partnerships. Merrick Haydon reports
Dubai has long understood the art of the finale. But even for a city defined by ambition, the DP World Tour Championship – the season-ending climax of the DP World Tour in golf – felt particularly resonant this year. On the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates, where sculpted fairways meet desert light, the week unfolded as a blend of elite performance and the unmistakable sense that this is where the next generation of the game is being shaped with effortless sophistication.
view of the first hole
It was also a week that showcased how far the Middle East has come in shaping the global game – a rise driven not only by champion players, but by the architects behind the scenes, including Tom Phillips, the DP World Tour’s director of Middle East, whose perspective threaded subtly through the tournament’s identity and momentum.
Matthew Fitzpatrick returned to Dubai with trademark calm and precision and left as a three-time DP World Tour Champion with his share of the US$10 million Prize Fund. A brilliant stretch of birdies at the 14th, 15th and 18th earned him a place in a playoff with Rory McIlroy, and a composed par on the first extra hole secured the title.
“It means the world,” Fitzpatrick said quietly, as though still replaying the final holes in his mind. “I really didn’t hit one bad shot all day.” He had stayed patient, knowing “the chances would come,” and when they did, the Rolex Testimonee produced a stretch of golf that felt inevitable in its clarity and control.
Rory McIlroy, meanwhile, delivered yet another Dubai performance that underscored his enduring presence at the summit. The Masters champion and Career Grand Slam winner looked to be out of the reckoning following bogeys at the 12th and 16th which had seen him surrender the lead. But the Northern Irishman produced a stunning second shot approach to 16 feet on the 72nd hole from where he rolled in his eagle putt that pulled him into the playoff – a strike of brilliance delivered with the inevitability only McIlroy seems capable of producing.
view of the first hole
His reward was a seventh season-long Race to Dubai title, placing him beyond Seve Ballesteros and one behind Colin Montgomerie’s all-time record. But it was McIlroy’s broader reflections that lingered. After a demanding two-year run of global travel and competition, he admitted the need for reinvention: “I’m going to have to scale back my schedule… play less every year to play more into the future.”
What makes the DPWTC distinctive is how seamlessly its environment aligns with the modern identity of the game. The experience is elevated in ways that never shout, only signal: sleek hospitality lounges, curated guest pathways, global travellers stepping off Emirates flights into the rhythm of a tournament week, courtesy cars moving quietly through the avenues of the Jumeirah Golf Estates.
From its impressive stable of commercial partners to the way the Earth Course is presented, the DP World Tour has built an ecosystem that reflects excellence, but it’s also inclusive – from grassroots programmes with the Emirates Golf Federation to sustainability practices.
The tournament’s premium partnerships underscore that identity. Rolex’s longstanding presence provides a sense of heritage and quiet authority; BMW’s engineering-led viewpoint adds modern edge; Emirates, as ever, is the connective tissue that makes Dubai accessible to golfers and fans worldwide. But here, none of these elements compete – they sit within a single, coherent narrative that feels unmistakably Dubai.
Even the tournament’s structure speaks to its evolution: the final event of the Race to Dubai, the last chapter of a global season spanning 42 tournaments across 26 countries culminating in the 2025 DP World Tour Championship. It’s a scale few sports can replicate.
This year’s DPWTC also coincided with a defining milestone: the announcement that DP World and the DP World Tour will extend their partnership to 2035, the largest agreement in the Tour’s history. For Tom Phillips, it marked a moment of both pride and possibility: “Being part of the groundbreaking 2022 announcement when we evolved from the European Tour to the DP World Tour was incredibly special. The partnership with DP World has only strengthened since and extending it to 2035 is a powerful endorsement of the direction we’re heading – not just in Dubai and the Middle East, but globally with all our commercial partners.”
view of the first hole
His own highlights from his tenure illuminate why, including the 2022 rebrand to the DP World Tour, which strengthened a partnership that continues to define and secure the sport’s longterm future. Phillips also sees the long-term alliance with the Emirates Golf Federation, a clear competitive pathway for UAE players, beginning to bear fruit. Meanwhile, the Middle East office has grown from seven staff when he joined in 2019 to over 30 today, supporting seven DP World Tour events, two HotelPlanner Tour events and three of the five Rolex Series tournaments.
Looking ahead, Phillips expects the sport to deepen even further in the region. “Attendance at our flagship tournaments in Dubai and Abu Dhabi has reached all-time highs, and that momentum is now spreading into emerging markets like Bahrain and Ras Al Khaimah. I expect both to grow into significant golf tourism destinations, drawing more global fans and deepening engagement with our international Tour. I also see a continued rise in the performance levels of UAE golfers. With the pathways now in place, I wouldn’t be surprised to see an Emirati player earn a full card on the HotelPlanner Tour within the next three years.”
Even his personal reflections add warmth to the tournament’s story. Asked what he misses most about his years living in Hong Kong, he smiles: “Dim sum – and of course, our friends. We spent 14 incredible years in Hong Kong, and every time we return – with its familiar sights, sounds and smells – it feels like we never left.”
His #legend? “Sir Nick Faldo. He is not only Britain’s greatest golfer and a true legend of the game, but I also had the privilege of working with him for 15 years. Much of that time was spent helping expand the Faldo Series globally, first in Europe and then across Asia. When the opportunity arose to grow his business in Asia, he backed me to relocate to Hong Kong with my family in 2005 – a decision that shaped both my life and career.”
In a world where sport increasingly reflects culture, aspiration and identity, the DP World Tour Championship stands not merely as a tournament, but as a blueprint for the next era of the game.
