Dubai Desert Classic Preview

17 January 2025

We take a closer look at the Dubai Desert Classic ahead of the players travelling to the Emirates Golf Club, UAE.

The Dubai Desert Classic marks the first elevated Rolex Series event on the DP World Tour of the New Year with more Race to Dubai points up for grabs, and even more enticing, a €9,000,000 prize fund!

Last year’s winner, Rory McIlroy, will be looking to complete the three-peat and win the tournament for the third year in a row.

The winning score was -14 to par with McIlroy’s third round 63 propelling him up the leaderboard.

That was last time, let us look to this year.

The Pros are once again heading to the Emirates Golf Club which over the years has given us some electric golf and finishes. 

In the field this year we have Ryder Cup Winning Captain Luke Donald as well as his team members Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrell Hatton, and Nicolai Hojgaard.

Although a close-knit bunch off the back of their success at Marco Simone, this week they will be going head-to-head once again. For a lot of the players, last week’s Dubai Invitational or this week’s Dubai Desert Classic will kick off their season.

Will the Team Europe members be able to replicate their success at Bethpage in September? Time will tell!

McIlroy has won the Desert Classic four times already which places him at the top of the list for most wins at the tournament.

The course will be playing the same length as last year at 7428 yards or 6793 meters, off the back of the rollback 2023 announcement, could we have a course setup change in years to come? 

Who will take home first place at the Emirates Golf Club?

Time will tell, it is hard to see past McIlroy, something about Rory and the Emirates GC just clicks, and when in the chasing pack, he can pull off miraculous shots like at The Genesis Scottish Open.

Tommy Fleetwood is another player who tends to find himself in contention on Sunday but has had difficulty in the past closing out tournaments. 

From a Scottish perspective Bob MacIntyre will look to start off 2025 in style, following his Canadian & Scottish Open wins last year, whilst Dubai-based Scot Ewen Ferguson lives nearby and could be an interesting contender.

Who do you think will be holding the Desert Classic trophy on Sunday?

Preview the course with Shot Scope

With the recent additions of both full course aerial maps and MyStrategy, you can see every hole on the course and even plot your way round. The Pros may be implementing a slightly different strategy!

The tournament commences on January 18th, just after the first-ever Dubai Invitational tournament at Dubai Creek Resort.

Image Credit: Shutterstock Rasto SK