Francesco Molinari, champion of Europe 2018, returns this week to Dubai, where the 2019 season of the tour ends, after 47 tournaments played in 31 different countries. The venue is the Jumeirah Golf Estates course and the competition is the DP World Tour Championship with an extra large prize pool: eight million dollars, maximum limit on the circuit and a first coin of three million dollars, the highest ever for the European Tours.
There are on the field 50 competitors, the first of the Race to Dubai (order of merit), among which stars of the caliber of Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson shine.
Molinari, who won the Race to Dubai last year at the end of an exceptional season, which saw him triumph at a major and at Ryder, is only 28th and will not be able to compete again for the annual title. However, nothing forbids that, with a flick of the wing, he can hit the final coup and take home at least the large prize money of the single tournament. The other blues in the field are Andrea Pavan, 29th and Guido Migliozzi, 40th. There are many reasons of interest: a prestigious title to conquer; the five-way fight for the coveted success in the Race To Dubai; the four-way challenge for the title of "Rookie of The Year", which sees Migliozzi in the running.
The magnificent five, chasing the crown of King of Europe is led by Bernd Wiesberger, winner of three titles during the season, two of which in the Rolex Series, including the Italian Open. Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Shane Lowry, Matthew Fitzpatrick are chasing him. If Wiesberger finishes at least second in the tournament, he wins the annual ranking. The others depend to some extent on the result of the leader. The fittest is Fleetwood, who scored in last week's Nedbank Golf Challenge, another very rich tournament which gave him lots of points. It is the third year in a row that Tommy has pursued this result in Dubai and after all he deserves it too.
Francesco Molinari will try to return to victory he has been missing for eight months (Arnold Palmer Invitational, 2019, PGA Tour). There will also be a family derby with Pavan for Italian supremacy on the continent with the two separated by just 30 points. It is played over a distance of 72 holes, without cutting.
Guido Migliozzi he will try to take the “Rookie of The Year Award”, recognition that belongs to the best rookie of the season. For this title he competes with the Scotsman Robert MacIntyre, number 11 on the money list, with the American Kurt Kitayama (12th) and with the Spanish Adri Arnaus (37th).
