29 events down, 13 to go and it's still all to play for on the 2025 Race to Dubai.
From David Micheluzzi hitting the first shot at the BMW Australian PGA Championship to Scottie Scheffler lifting the Claret Jug at The Open for his second Major win of 2025, the season so far has brought us plenty of thrills and spills.
Via five continents and Global Swings, four Major Championships, two Rolex Series events and 23 regular DP World Tour outings, we have seen 28 different winners, with 17 lifting a DP World Tour trophy for the first time.
Here, we take a look at some of the highlights from the season so far.
Grand Slam glory for Rory
A lifetime in the making, nearly 11 years in the waiting - at the Masters Tournament Rory McIlroy joined the golfing immortals by completing the career Grand Slam.
The World Number Two arrived at Augusta National as the favourite having already won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and THE PLAYERS Championship and at the 11th time of asking joined Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods in golf's most exclusive club. A play-off victory over Justin Rose saw him slip on the Green Jacket after sinking to his knees and letting out a roar on the 18th green in scenes that will be forever etched in golfing folklore.
“It feels incredible,” said McIlroy. “This is my 17th time here and I started to wonder if it would ever be my time. I think the last ten times, coming here with the burden of the Grand Slam on my shoulders and trying to achieve that – I sort of wonder what we're going to talk about going into next year's Masters! I'm absolutely honoured and thrilled and just so proud to be able to call myself the Masters champion."
Swing Kings
There may be two events to go in the Closing Swing but we have already crowned four Swing winners with each of them sealing a place in all events in Phase Two of the season - the Back 9 - and a $US200,000 bonus.
The Opening Swing title went to John Parry as the Englishman enjoys a stunning career renaissance despite being just 38. He started the 2025 season with a top ten at the BMW Australian PGA Championship and while he followed that with a missed cut, a runner-up finish at the Alfred Dunhill Championship was his best DP World Tour result since his victory in France. The following week he went one better, lifting the trophy at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open to win the Swing and truly cement his place back on Tour.
The International Swing started at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic and Laurie Canter's third-place finish set him on course for a domination of the second Global Swing. That form not only saw him win the Swing but also enter the top 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking and earn a debut at the Masters Tournament.
Keita Nakajima had a tie for 11th Hainan Classic on the Asian Tour, but that proved enough to hand Nakajima Swing glory. His place in the top three also saw him head to the US PGA Championship
Martin Couvra won the opening event of the European Swing at the Turkish Airlines Open and from thereon in it would be a tight battle between him and Kristoffer Reitan.
The Frenchman who led the way into the BMW International Open by less than 70 points found out a missed cut would prove costly, however, and Reitan's tie for 4th in Munich saw the Norwegian take the Swing crown by fewer than 80 points.
In 2023, we had a record 19 first-time winners, could that record be broken this year?
The Race is on
Amid all this, there is the main business of the battle to win the Harry Vardon Trophy and with no multiple winners among the DP World Tour membership on the Race to Dubai so far this season, the race is still wide open.
With his victory at Augusta, top fives in the Rolex Series in Dubai and Scotland and a top ten at The Open, McIlroy is the man on top and with a host of confirmed chances to win points across the Rolex Series and Back 9 to come, he is the favourite to make it four in a row.
Hatton is next thanks to his win in Dubai and some strong Major showings ahead of Haotong Li, who is enjoying a stunning season with six top tens including a win, a second and a top five at The Open. Penge is fourth after his runner-up finish at the Genesis Scottish Open and is followed by Swing winners Reitan, Canter and Parry, with all of them within 1,500 points of McIlroy.
There are many points still to play for with eight of the Back 9 events offering 5,000 (835.000 to the winner), the BMW PGA Championship offering 8,000 (1,335.000 to the winner), 9,000 available at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship (1,500.000 to the winner) and a whopping 12,000 points at stake at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, wiith the winner claiming 2,000.000.
For a full points breakdown, click here.
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
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