Jon Rahm claims 2019 DP World Tour Championship to seal Race to Dubai title

Spain’s Jon Rahm has claimed the Race to Dubai crown for the 2019 European Tour season after he won the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai on Sunday.

Jon Rahm came into the DP World Tour Championship in third place in the standings, but thanks to his one shot victory over Race to Dubai rival Tommy Fleetwood, the Spaniard took both the week’s and season’s titles.

With the victory, the World No. 5 has taken his fourth Rolex Series win, and his second victory in Dubai, having won this very event in 2017. That year, he lifted the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open title, and he do again this year. The Spaniard also has two victories on the European Tour on home soil.

Rahm carded a final round of 68 around the Earth Course at the Jumeirah Golf Estates to finish the tournament at -19, one shot clear of Fleetwood, who was looking for a second Rolex victory in as many weeks.

The Englishman had thrown himself into contention for a second Race to Dubai crown after winning the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa last week, but his final round of 65 saw him just fall short, as Rahm, the only man to card four rounds of sub-70, took the win.

Fleetwood finishes the season in second place on the Race to Dubai leaderboard, but thanks to the substantial amount of points available for the win this week, he eventually finished the season more than 450 points behind his European Ryder Cup teammate.

Mike Lorenzo-Vera was the man to finish in third spot this week. The Frenchman had led throughout the tournament, but he could only manage a 70 on the final day to drop two shots behind the Spaniard.

Going into Sunday’s action, Rory McIlroy looked set to make a charge, but the four-time major champion, and three-time Race to Dubai winner, could only card a one-over-par 73, to finish seven shots off the pace.

2018 DP World Tour Championship winner Danny Willett came home in 5th spot, with Sergio Garcia, Tome Lewis and Thomas Pieters a further shot behind. Matthew Fitzpatrick, another of the men in with a shot of claiming the overall season’s glory this week, ended the tournament in 9th.

England’s Andy Sullivan and Australia’s Jason Scrivener finished in a tie for 10th, with British Open champion Shane Lowry and Andalucia Masters winner Christiaan Bezuidenhout coming home in a tie for 12th, one shot clear of Robert MacIntyre, who claimed the European Tour’s Rookie of the Year prize, as he finished inside the top 12 on the Race to Dubai standings.

For the Race to Dubai leader coming into the season-finale, it was a bad week. Bernd Wiesberger was the favourite to take the crown, but he failed to shoot in the 60s in any of his four rounds, and finished the event in a tie for 28th, dropping him down to 3rd on the RTD leaderboard, behind Rahm and Fleetwood.

Lowry finished the season in 4th on the RTD, with Fitzpatrick rounding out the top five, and the last man to take the home a piece of the bonus prize pool.

McIlroy finished the year in 6th, with Matt Wallace, Louis Oosthuizen, Tyrrell Hatton and Erik van Rooyen finishing inside the top ten on the leaderboard.

Back at the top, and what a week for Jon Rahm. He becomes the first Spaniard to win the Race to Dubai in its current guise, and the first man to win the season-long prize since his hero, Seve Ballesteros, did so in 1991, 28 years ago.

The 2019 European Tour season is over, but we do it all again next week, as the 2020 season kicks off with the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa.

DP World Tour Championship Leaderboard:

1 (-19): Jon Rahm (ESP)

2 (-18): Tommy Fleetwood (ENG)

3 (-17): Mike Lorenzo-Vera (FRA)

4 (-12): Rory McIlroy (NIR)

5 (-11): Danny Willett (ENG)

Race to Dubai Final Standings:

1 (+2): Jon Rahm (ESP) – 5,898.3

2 (=): Tommy Fleetwood (ENG) – 5,414.7

3 (-2): Bernd Wiesberger (AUT) – 4,905.9

4 (=): Shane Lowry (IRL) – 3,813.6

5 (=): Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG) – 3,587.9

6 (=): Rory McIlroy (NIR) – 3,363.5

7 (=): Matt Wallace (ENG) – 2,851.2

8 (+1): Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) – 2,814.0

9 (-1): Tyrrell Hatton (ENG) – 2,798.8

10 (=): Erik van Rooyen (RSA) – 2,766.0