AVIV DUBAI CHAMPIONSHIP MAKES THE CUT

The European Tour has announced the Aviv Dubai Championship to its 2021 schedule, with the tournament returning for a second year to form an end of season double-header in Dubai with the DP World Tour Championship.

The $1.5 million (Dh5.5m) Dubai Championship will be played on the Fire Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates from November 11-14, preceding the final Rolex Series event of 2021, the DP World Tour Championship which will bring the curtain down on this year’s Race to Dubai on the neighbouring Earth Course.

It was introduced last December, when it was known as the Golf in Dubai Championship presented by DP World, as part of the revamped 2020 European Tour schedule, which was thrown off by the COVID-19 pandemic. France’s Antoine Rozner finished two strokes clear of compatriot Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Italian Francesco Laporta and English pair Andy Sullivan and Matt Wallace to claim the inaugural event.

This year, the tournament will be title sponsored by Aviv Clinics, the healthcare partner of DP World, which provides unique, personalised medical programmes to enhance the ageing process by improving cognitive and physical performance in healthy ageing adults. The tournament replaces the cancelled Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa, which will now return for its 40th anniversary in 2022.

It forms a new-look end to the European Tour’s 2021 season following the recent additions of the Mallorca Golf Open (October 21-24) and Portugal Masters (November 4-7).

Players in those two events and the Dubai Championship will be aiming to secure their spot in the $9 million DP World Tour Championship which will comprise the leading 50 available players on the Race to Dubai rankings.