After last week's Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the DP World Tour heads up the United Arab Emirates coast for the Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club - the second successive Rolex Series event.
Like last week, that means a larger purse than usual and with it, a stronger field. Among it are 12 LIV Golf players and two of the world's top 20 - World No.1 Rory McIlroy and World No.20 Shane Lowry.
Of those, it is McIlroy who created most of the headlines in the build-up to the tournament and not just because it's his first start in 2023. The Northern Irishman was also involved in an incident with one of the LIV Golf players, Patrick Reed, who was blanked by McIlroy when he attempted to shake hands with him, before eventually walking away and tossing a tee in his direction.
Given the drama that he has generated it is likely McIlroy is more keen than ever to left his golf do the talking, and, by his own admission, he has “unfinished business” after a heartbreaking end to last year's tournament when he found the water on the 72nd hole and missed out on a playoff for the chance to win the title for a third time. In the end, Viktor Hovland claimed victory, although the Norwegian is not back to defend his title this year.
As well as Reed, the other LIV Golf players in the field will be eager to perform well with a rare chance to accumulate world ranking points. That includes two players for whom the DP World Tour (previously the European Tour) has been an integral part of their long careers.
Ryder Cup legends Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood could be facing their DP World Tour swan song this week pending the outcome of a hearing beginning on 6 February to determine whether LIV Golf players can continue on the Tour. Prior to this week's tournament, the pair had amassed a combined 982 appearances on the Tour and they will surely have added incentive to go out on a high if it is to be their final tournament on it.
The man who finished runner-up to Hovland last year, Richard Bland - who also plays for LIV Golf - appears too, while other recent winners in the field include 2020 victor Lucas Herbert and Stephen Gallacher, who enjoyed back-to-back wins in 2013 and 2014. Rafa Cabrero Bello, who was crowned champion in 2012, also plays.
Other players hoping to make an impact will be World No.24 Tommy Fleetwood, who is now a Dubai resident and has finished in the top 20 in each of his last five appearances at the tournament. Tyrrell Hatton, Sepp Straka and Tom Hoge are also players in the world's top 30 who will be confident of performing well this week.
Like last week's tournament, the purse is an eye-catching $9m, with $1.53m on offer to the winner.
Below is the full breakdown of the prize money and field for the 2023 Dubai Desert Classic.
Dubai Desert Classic Prize Money 2023
| Position | Prize Money |
|---|---|
| 1st | $1,530,000 |
| 2nd | $990,000 |
| 3rd | $567,000 |
| 4th | $450,000 |
| 5th | $381,600 |
| 6th | $315,000 |
| 7th | $270,000 |
| 8th | $225,000 |
| 9th | $201,600 |
| 10th | $180,000 |
| 11th | $165,600 |
| 12th | $154,800 |
| 13th | $144,900 |
| 14th | $137,700 |
| 15th | $132,300 |
| 16th | $126,900 |
| 17th | $121,500 |
| 18th | $116,100 |
| 19th | $111,600 |
| 20th | $108,000 |
| 21st | $104,400 |
| 22nd | $101,700 |
| 23rd | $99,000 |
| 24th | $96,300 |
| 25th | $93,600 |
| 26th | $90,900 |
| 27th | $88,200 |
| 28th | $85,500 |
| 29th | $82,800 |
| 30th | $80,100 |
| 31st | $77,400 |
| 32nd | $74,700 |
| 33rd | $72,000 |
| 34th | $69,300 |
| 35th | $66,600 |
| 36th | $63,900 |
| 37th | $62,100 |
| 38th | $60,300 |
| 39th | $58,500 |
| 40th | $56,700 |
| 41st | $54,900 |
| 42nd | $53,100 |
| 43rd | $51,300 |
| 44th | $49,500 |
| 45th | $47,700 |
| 46th | $45,900 |
| 47th | $44,100 |
| 48th | $42,300 |
| 49th | $40,500 |
| 50th | $38,700 |
| 51st | $36,900 |
| 52nd | $35,100 |
| 53rd | $33,300 |
| 54th | $31,500 |
| 55th | $30,600 |
| 56th | $29,700 |
| 57th | $28,800 |
| 58th | $27,900 |
| 59th | $27,000 |
| 60th | $26,100 |
| 61st | $25,200 |
| 62nd | $24,300 |
| 63rd | $23,400 |
| 64th | $22,500 |
| 65th | $21,600 |
| 66th | $20,700 |
| 67th | $19,800 |
| 68th | $18,900 |
| 69th | $18,000 |
| 70th | $17,100 |
Dubai Desert Classic Field 2023
- Ludvig Aberg
- Issa Abou El Ela
- Abraham Ancer
- Marcus Armitage
- Adri Arnaus
- Oliver Bekker
- Wil Besseling
- Alexander Björk
- Thomas Bjørn
- Richard Bland
- Dan Bradbury
- Julien Brun
- Rafa Cabrera Bello
- Jorge Campillo
- John Catlin
- Aaron Cockerill
- George Coetzee
- Nicolas Colsaerts
- Sean Crocker
- Louis De Jager
- Luke Donald
- Jamie Donaldson
- Hennie Du Plessis
- Victor Dubuisson
- Nacho Elvira
- Ewen Ferguson
- Ross Fisher
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Grant Forrest
- Ryan Fox
- Jeremy Freiburghaus
- Stephen Gallacher
- Daniel Gavins
- Gavin Green
- Julien Guerrier
- Chase Hanna
- Justin Harding
- Padraig Harrington
- Tyrrell Hatton
- Marcus Helligkilde
- Lucas Herbert
- Angel Hidalgo
- Calum Hill
- Nicolai Højgaard
- Rasmus Højgaard
- Sam Horsfield
- Daan Huizing
- Scott Jamieson
- Jazz Janewattananond
- Miguel Ángel Jiménez
- Andrew Johnston
- Matthew Jordan
- Masahiro Kawamura
- Maximilian Kieffer
- Nathan Kimsey
- Marcus Kinhult
- Søren Kjeldsen
- Alexander Knappe
- Espen Kofstad
- Mikko Korhonen
- Jacques Kruyswijk
- Joakim Lagergren
- Romain Langasque
- Pablo Larrazábal
- David Law
- Thriston Lawrence
- Min Woo Lee
- Alexander Levy
- Haotong Li
- Zander Lombard
- Hurly Long
- Shane Lowry
- Joost Luiten
- Robert MacIntyre
- Richard Mansell
- Rory McIlroy
- Tom McKibbin
- Adrian Meronk
- Guido Migliozzi
- Edoardo Molinari
- Francesco Molinari
- James Morrison
- Lukas Nemecz
- Niklas Nørgaard
- Shaun Norris
- Thorbjørn Olesen
- Adrian Otaegui
- Yannik Paul
- Matthieu Pavon
- Eddie Pepperell
- Victor Perez
- Thomas Pieters
- Ian Poulter
- Tapio Pulkkanen
- Richie Ramsay
- Patrick Reed
- Jc Ritchie
- Antoine Rozner
- Kalle Samooja
- Marcel Schneider
- Jason Scrivener
- Jack Senior
- Shubhankar Sharma
- Callum Shinkwin
- Jordan Smith
- Sebastian Söderberg
- Matthew Southgate
- Henrik Stenson
- Sepp Straka
- Ockie Strydom
- Andy Sullivan
- Connor Syme
- Santiago Tarrio
- Michael Thorbjornsen
- Sami Välimäki
- Darius Van Driel
- Johannes Veerman
- Nicolai Von Dellingshausen
- Matt Wallace
- Justin Walters
- Jeunghun Wang
- Paul Waring
- Marc Warren
- Lee Westwood
- Dale Whitnell
- Bernd Wiesberger
- Oliver Wilson
- Jeff Winther
- Ashun Wu
- Fabrizio Zanotti
Who Is Playing In The Dubai Desert Classic?
A strong field, including World No.1 Rory McIlroy, appears. Other notable inclusions are World No.20 Shane Lowry, World No.24 Tommy Fleetwood and 2020 winner Lucas Herbert. Several high-profile LIV Golf players are also appearing, including Patrick Reed, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood.
What Is The Prize Money For The Dubai Desert Classic?
Like last week's Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the purse for the 2023 tournament is $9m. Of that, the winner will earn $1.53m, while the runner-up will secure $990,000.
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