Race to Dubai 2014 Standings: Predictions for Final Rankings, Remaining Schedule

The DP World Tour Championship takes place for the sixth time at the Jumeirah Golf Estates this week, with many of the world's best golfers gathering for a crack at the $8 million prize fund on offer.

While Rory McIlroy has already guaranteed himself a spot at the top of the end-of-year rankings, all is still to play for below as players compete for the bonus pool on offer to those in the top 15.

After what can be a long and challenging season, such a tournament can change a player's outlook on the year dramatically.

Remaining Schedule

Date	Tournament	Location	Prize Fund	Last Winner
Nov. 20-23, 2014	DP Tour Championship	Dubai	$8,000,000	H. Stenson

Current Rankings

Rank	Name	Country	Tournaments Played	Points
1	Rory McIlroy	NIR	14	5,400,700
2	Henrik Stenson	SWE	19	2,674,186
3	Jamie Donaldson	WAL	24	2,575,847
4	Marcel Siem	GER	21	2,471,873
5	Sergio Garcia	ESP	16	2,459,649
6	Brooks Koepka	USA	14	2,412,876
7	Alexander Levy	FRA	29	2,216,192
8	Justin Rose	ENG	13	2,007,861
9	Thomas Bjorn	DEN	25	1,943,682
10	Victor Dubuisson	FRA	22	1,938,066

Full rankings can be found at EuropeanTour.com. 

Predicted Ranking Changes

Golf is an incredibly fluid sport from one week to the next, so it is always difficult to accurately predict how events will unfold, but there are certainly some players heading to Dubai worth watching with regards to ranking places.

McIlroy, of course, has already taken top spot for the season, leaving the Northern Irishman simply to play for the jackpot on offer. Last year's Tour Championship winner Henrik Stenson, meanwhile, would appear an excellent candidate to secure second spot after his inspired record-breaking success at the Greg Norman-designed course at Jumeirah last year.

However, if former champions are the way to look at Jumeirah this week, 25th-placed Lee Westwood will fancy his chances of making significant gains and potentially earning a top-15 place. At present, he must make gains of 500,000 points should he wish to sneak into one of those berths.

Justin Rose, currently lying eighth, is another with pedigree around the greens in Jumeirah, having pushed McIlroy all the way in 2012 when the Northern Irishman set what was then a tournament-record low score.

Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Rose finished tied fourth at the BMW Masters in his first post-Ryder Cup event earlier this month and is in good form coming into the season finale. Given the congested nature of the top 10, a good finish could potentially move him up to challenge Stenson or Jamie Donaldson for a place in the top three.

Graeme McDowell, meanwhile, would appear an excellent shout to move into the top 10 places post-Dubai, arriving on a high after his third-place finish in last week's WGC-HSBC Champions tournament.

That result, combined with another top-10 finish in the World Matchplay last month, puts Ryder Cup winner McDowell among those most in-form ahead of the competition. He has three top-20 finishes in five attempts at the Jumeirah event but must now seek to crack the top 10 if he is to make significant gains.

Predicted Top Five in 2014

Rank	Name	Country
1	Rory McIlroy	NIR
2	Henrik Stenson	DEN
3	Sergio Garcia	ESP
4	Jamie Donaldson	WAL
5	Justin Rose	ENG

All statistics are taken from the European Tour website.