Race to Dubai now down to five contenders

The season-long Race to Dubai will conclude this week at the final event of the season, the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. Bernd Wiesberger currently tops the rankings and after finishing in third place at the Nedbank Golf Challenge, there are now only five players in with a chance of being crowned Europe's best player of the year.

A field of the top 50 players in the Race to Dubai rankings will head to Dubai this week to tee it up at the Jumeriah Golf Estates for the DP World Tour Championships, with a huge prize pot to play for, the winner taking home $3 million.

Rory McIlroy currently sits in sixth position in the rankings and due to current leader Wiesberger's third place finish in South Africa, McIlroy is no longer in with a chance of winning the Race to Dubai.

The only players in with a chance of catching Wiesberger are Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Shane Lowry and Matthew Fitzpatrick. A solo second place finish for Wiesberger would be enough for the Austrian to win the Race to Dubai, but anything worse and it is in the hands of his challengers.

Golf statistic guru Nosferatu (@VC606) recently tweeted what position each player will need to finish in order to catch the Austrian, so let's take a look at what each player needs to do.

Bernd Wiesberger

Current Race to Dubai points: 4,802.4

Season wins: 3

If the Austrian finishes in solo second then no matter where the chasing pack finishes, Wiesberger will win the Race to Dubai. Anything worse than third could open the door for the other players.

Tommy Fleetwood

Current Race to Dubai points: 4,079.7

Season wins: 1

Fleetwood's win in South Africa shot him up the leaderboard into second place. If the Englishman wants to win the Race to Dubai for a second time then he needs to finish in solo third place, with Wiesberger somewhere in the lower half of the leaderboard.

Jon Rahm

Current Race to Dubai points: 3,898.3

Season wins: 2

A two-way tie for Rahm and a Wiesberger slip-up would be enough for the Spaniard to win the Race to Dubai for the very first time and he's got every chance of performing well in Dubai, having won this tournament in 2017.

Shane Lowry

Current Race to Dubai points: 3,613.8

Season wins: 2

I'm not sure Shane Lowry will be too fussed about winning the Race to Dubai, of course it would mean a lot to the Irishman but having won the Open Championship at Royal Portrush earlier this year, this man has achieved his lifelong dream. A solo second place finish this week for Lowry could see him crowned Race to Dubai champion.

Matthew Fitzpatrick

Current Race to Dubai points: 3,320.9

Season wins: 0 (has finished 2nd on four occasions this season)

Matthew Fitzpatrick has played some incredible golf this season but hasn't found the victory he's been looking for, finishing runner-up in four tournaments. If Wiesberger slisp up in Dubai and Fitzpatrick wins the tournament, the Englishman could be the 2019 Race to Dubai winner and he won this event back in 2016.