Rahm wins the Abu Dhabi Championship: who's through to Dubai?

Jon Rahm won the Abu Dhabi Championship by two shots at Yas Links today.

The Race to Dubai field now narrows to the top 50 available players for next week's final.

The result

How Rahm won at Yas Links

A closing 67 took Rahm down to 23 under, two clear of Hatton. Both birdied the 15th, leaving Hatton with three holes to close the gap. Rahm saved par from five feet at the 17th, then two-putted for par at the last. It was a great cat and mouse matchup, well deserved victory to Rahm who seemingly couldn’t put a foot wrong on the back 9.

Hatton closed with a 68.

McIlroy started birdie-eagle. Bogeys at the third and sixth slowed him down. Another at the 15th left him with a rather large uphill battle. His 69 put him third at 19 under, with Francesco Laporta fourth at 17 under after a 72.

Leaderboard

2026 Abu Dhabi Championship leaderboard

The top five, including ties. Scores are relative to par; T means tied.

Position	Player	Score
1	Jon Rahm	-23
2	Tyrrell Hatton	-21
3	Rory McIlroy	-19
4	Francesco Laporta	-17
T5	Angel Ayora	-16
T5	Bernd Wiesberger	-16
T5	David Puig	-16

Full results: Official Abu Dhabi Championship leaderboard.

The build-up

Going into Sunday

Rahm was 18 under going into Sunday and, arguably, he had something to prove here post LIV.

Rahm did most of the damage just after the turn on Saturday.

Birdie, eagle, birdie from the tenth took him into the outright lead, and, another birdie at 15 helped him finish with a 66.

Rory had a nightmare on Thursday.

He picked up a two-shot penalty for improving his lie, which, you might remember Koepka highlighting a few weeks back…

He then went out on Friday and made 11 birdies in a round of 63. The first time he’s managed that many birdies in a DP World Tour round, apparently. Quite a response.

Saturday wasn’t much quieter. Three consecutive birdies to finish the front nine, followed by a double bogey at the tenth.

He then birdied the next four holes, including driving the green at the par-four 14th… show off.

While Rory had been finding several… creative ways to arrive at a good score, Scott hadn’t dropped a shot through Saturday. Unfortunately, he couldn't keep that going on Sunday.

His 73 left him tied ninth at 14 under, despite three birdies in his last 12 holes.

Dubai qualification

Who's through to Dubai?

The Tour hasn't published the Dubai field yet.

There is an important qualification here: the tour describes Dubai's field as the top 50 ‘available’ players. Absences can affect who gets in, so 50th in the published rankings is not necessarily a fixed door that shuts everyone below it out (great news for some).

Rahm and Hatton began the week just outside the top 50.

The win takes Rahm up 45 places to sixth in the Race to Dubai. Hatton climbs 43 to 12th. Both are comfortably inside the top 50.

Right on the line, Adam Scott is 47th, Manuel Elvira 49th and Gregorio De Leo 50th. Ewen Ferguson (52nd), Matt Wallace (54th) and Victor Perez (55th) are just outside.

Matt Fitzpatrick, Shane Lowry, Robert MacIntyre, Justin Rose, Ludvig Åberg and Ryan Fox were among the absentees in Abu Dhabi which, luckily for some, created opportunities further down the field.

Several of those absentees are still inside the top 50, so whether they turn up will decide how far down the list it goes.

Nathan Kimsey had already benefited from that distinction in Abu Dhabi. Ranked 72nd, he made the field after players ahead of him opted out. He told the BBC that a week good enough to take him into the top 50 would be 'a good reward for my season'.

He finished tied ninth at 14 under, which takes him up 14 places to 58th. Whether that gets him to Dubai depends on how many above him sit it out.

The season standings

What Abu Dhabi changed in the title and card races

The Race to Dubai is the DP World Tour's season-long points competition. Abu Dhabi was its penultimate event.

Eugenio Chacarra is still top of the Race to Dubai, on 4,243.79 points. McIlroy has moved past Reed into second, 533.93 behind.

Chacarra had won three times this season before Abu Dhabi: the KLM Open, the Open d'Italia and the DP World India Championship. His autumn run included a share of second in Spain while playing with a fractured toe (not ideal), followed by victory in India.

He was tied 22nd at 11 under in Abu Dhabi, enough to stay in front.

Patrick Reed already has a Rolex Series win this year at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. McIlroy came to Abu Dhabi chasing an eighth season-long title, which would draw him level with Colin Montgomerie, having won the last four.

Reed was tied 43rd at four under, which let McIlroy past him.

Jarvis has taken, let’s say, a less straightforward route. After wins in Kenya and South Africa, he missed seven cuts in ten non-major DP World Tour starts from the Austrian Alpine Open in May to the BMW PGA Championship in September. Tied sixth at The Open and tied second at the Dunhill Links helped put him back in contention. His year is a rather useful reminder that a season's final position rarely tells you how comfortable it felt getting there.

His tie for 51st at one under keeps him fourth.

And then there was Rai, rocking his double glove trademark, back to defend his Abu Dhabi title.

He finished tied 25th at ten under and stays fifth.

Race to Dubai standings after Abu Dhabi

The top ten in the season standings. Points include Abu Dhabi.

Position	Player	Points
1	Eugenio Chacarra	4,243.79
2	Rory McIlroy	3,709.86
3	Patrick Reed	3,528.62
4	Casey Jarvis	2,892.98
5	Aaron Rai	2,560.15
6	Jon Rahm	2,525.45
7	Jayden Schaper	2,445.79
8	Ryan Fox	2,427.52
9	Daniel Hillier	2,351.25
10	Jacob Skov Olesen	2,111.49

Full standings: Official Race to Dubai rankings.

The PGA Tour card race works down the same standings, but skips players who are already exempt. The leading ten eligible members at the end of the season qualify for PGA Tour membership next year.

Joe Dean began the week in the last of those ten qualifying positions, despite sitting 14th overall. Nacho Elvira was immediately behind him in the season standings.

Dean finished tied 31st at eight under. He's 16th overall now, and still holds the tenth and last card place.

Nacho Elvira, tied 62nd at two over, has slipped to 18th, 105.19 points behind Dean, with Angel Ayora now between them.

For players around that boundary, getting into Dubai matters twice: it extends their season and gives them another event in which to earn points towards a card.

Further down the pecking order, the scrap for DP World Tour cards started on Friday at Q School, where nine Brits and Irish are among those chasing 15 cards over six rounds. It finishes on Wednesday 11 November.

Next week

On to Dubai

The season finishes at the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates from 12 to 15 November.

There are another 2,000 points for the winner of next week's final.

Chacarra goes there 533.93 points clear of McIlroy, so the title is still open. Dean takes the last PGA Tour card place with him, but it isn't his yet.

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