DP World Tour Championship Tips: Wallace to make an end of season charge?

The DP World Tour reaches its climax with the Tour Champions, and while only Rory McIlroy and South African Thriston Lawrence are the only players who can land the main prize, there is plenty still up for grabs.

Winning the tournament will earn a $3m payout, while the top 10 players in the Race to Dubai rankings, who have not yet qualified, will gain much-prized cards for next year’s PGA Tour in the USA.

McIlroy has won this tournament twice and claimed five other top-10 finishes at the Earth Course, but the most recent of those successes was in 2015, and the four-time Major winner has been experimenting with swing changes.

And while his Ryder Cup team-mates Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood are also available at single-figure prices, this could be a week when someone emerges from the pack and finishes the campaign on a high note.

Wallace geared to make end-of-season charge

While it is understandable that McIlroy is favourite this week given his fine course record, one player it would be foolish to ignore is Matt Wallace.

The Englishman ensured he will go into the end-of-season showdown in fine fettle after carding a Sunday 63 at last week’s Abu Dhabi Championship, which was enough to earn him third spot.

Wallace, who won the European Masters in Crans-sur-Sierre in Switzerland in September, had a third-round 60 in this tournament last year, which was enough to earn him second spot, replicating the result he achieved five years earlier.

The fact he has had two second-place finishes in the 2019 Dubai Desert Classic and the 2020 Golf in Dubai Championship provides further cause for optimism and he can make a strong push to claim his sixth triumph on the DPWT circuit.

Tip 1 - Matt Wallace to win the DP World Tour Championship @ 11/1

The chase for those all-important PGA Tour cards provides an excellent sub-plot to this week’s play at the Jumeriah Golf Estates G&CC, and one player who will be desperate to get over that particular line is Tom McKibbin.

The Northern Irishman is just one place below the magic mark which is occupied by England’s Jordan Smith, and a strong performance this week should be enough to lead him to the promised land.

McKibbin has not claimed a Tour victory this year but he fell to a playoff defeat to Marcel Siem at the Italian Open and has posted seven other top-ten finishes. The latest of those came at Abu Dhabi last week when his closing 64 was enough for 10th spot, and he should be respected this week. He performed well in the desert at the start of the year - he was 14th in the Dubai Desert Classic, 16th at the Ras al Khaimah Championship and fourth at the Qatar Masters.

Tip 2 - Tom McKibbin to win the DP World Tour Championship @ 40/1

Thriston Lawrence is the only player who can stop McIlroy from claiming a sixth Race to Dubai title, and while it would need a poor performance from the Northern Irishman to give him a chance, the South African can still do his bit.

Lawrence enters the end-of-season get-together in fine fettle after tying for sixth in Abu Dhabi, and he finished four shots off the pace in this last year when he carded a closing 66.

He has not won this year apart from a Sunshine Tour event in his home country, but January’s Dubai Invitational has been one of five runner-up finishes, including the flagship BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

Lawrence cannot give himself an opportunity to take the big prize unless he performs well, so there looks a strong chance he will go on to the bitter end.

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Odds correct at time of publication but subject to fluctuation