The DP World Tour Championship betting preview: Odds, predictions and tips

It’s the final tournament of the 2023 DP World Tour season and the Earth Course in Dubai is set for another week of world-class action and drama.

Odds with Spreadex:

• Rory McIlroy 5/1
• Viktor Hovland 11/2
• Jon Rahm 11/2
• Matt Fitzpatrick 12/1
• Tyrrell Hatton 12/1
• Tommy Fleetwood 14/1
• Tom Kim 14/1
• Min Woo Lee 18/1
• Nicolai Hojgaard 25/1
• Adrian Meronk 28/1

Unlike the PGA Tour’s FedExCup contrived finale, the DP World Tour heads into its Tour Championship knowing that the Race to Dubai rankings have already been won by Rory McIlroy.

It really doesn’t distract too much from this week’s action, however, which promises to be a thrilling celebration of the best of European golf.

Two-time tournament winner McIlroy is closely followed in the betting by three-time champion Jon Rahm and young hot shot Viktor Hovland who is yet to lift the trophy but surely has the game to do so.

Matt Fitzpatrick is yet another two-time winner of the event and he is joined by fellow Englishmen Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton in hoping to chase down the favourites.

Find some of the best picks for the DP World Tour Championship.

Last year’s US Open champion loves playing this event because the course is an ideal fit for him.

He was fourth on debut in 2015, claimed victory in 2016 and was the halfway leader on defence in 2017.

A year later he finished outside the top 12 for the first and only time in eight starts, but was soon back in the saddle.

He was ninth in 2019, winner for a second time in 2020, runner-up in 2021 and fifth last year.

He hasn’t been seen in action since starring in the Ryder Cup and winning the Dunhill Links Championship in consecutive weeks but he’s not alone among the favourites in having had time off.

The Earth Course demands supreme ball-striking and high quality driving of the ball in particular.

Those are the exact qualities that have helped the Pole Adrian Meronk win three times this season and he also used those skills to finish seventh in the tournament last year.

He’s also finished eighth at Jumeirah’s Fire Course and 11th at Al Mouj in Oman - both of them Greg Norman designs like the Earth Course.

He won just two starts ago in Spain and contending again is well within his scope.

The course suits him, he’s ranked third in the Race to Dubai and he remains motivated to remind everyone what he could have added to the Ryder Cup cause

As mentioned, the Earth Course is a Greg Norman creation and down the years the Austrian Sepp Straka has struggled to find his best game when playing on them.

He’s teed it up nine times on three different layouts, has just one top 30 finish and even that was only 22nd.

In contrast, the Dane Thorbjorn Olesen has 10 top 30s from 12 starts on Norman courses and seven of them were top 20s.

On the Earth Course alone Olesen has seven top 30s in nine starts while Straka makes a course debut this week.

• Venue: The Earth Course, Jumeirah, Dubai
• Date: Thursday 16th November - Sunday 19th November
• Broadcast: Full coverage on Sky Sports Golf: Thursday, Friday & Saturday 7.00 am - 1.00 pm, Sunday 6.30 am - 12.30 pm

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