DP World Tour Championship: Power Ranking the top ten in Dubai

Remember when I excused Xander Schauffele for being a DP World Tour Championship debutant? That’s because there’s a blueprint showing a first-timer can win.

That was Jon Rahm in 2017 when he fired 69-68-65-67 to reach 19-under and win by one.

He explained how his college days helped him learn on the fly to win for the first time here, as well as other locales like Torrey Pines.

"“Again, four years of college, when you only have one practice round and they try to make you play fast, only one shot into the green, one shot off the tee, a few putts; you really have to learn,” Rahm said during last year’s event. “When you give me a full Pro-Am day, when you’re going to see five people putt on the green and people hitting chips and how the ball reacts, you can end up learning a course pretty well.”"

Rahm won three times worldwide in 2017 and twice in 2018 (CareerBuilder Challenge and Open de Espana). He finished T22 against a strong field at the WGC-HSBC Champions in his last start.

Like others on this list, he took off both preceding Final Series events to gear up for Dubai. He has three-straight top-25s in a light fall schedule.

The big-hitting Rahm is able to let his hair down at the Earth course. He led the field last year in driving distance (313.4 yards) and also rolled it well to finish third in putts per GIR.