Race To Dubai: the final showdown

By Greg Duke, CNN

December 6, 2011 -- Updated 2058 GMT (0458 HKT)

Luke Donald (left) and Rory McIlory are all smiles ahead of this week's Dubai World Championship.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Luke Donald and Rory McIlory are battling to win the 2011 Race to Dubai
• McIlory needs to win in Dubai and hope Donald finishes worse than ninth
• Donald is bidding to become the first player to top both PGA and Europe money list

(CNN) -- The European Tour season will come to an end in Dubai this weekend, with golf's top two players going head-to-head in an attempt to finish top of the money list for 2011.
British duo Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy -- who are first and second in the current world rankings -- will do battle at the Dubai World Championship, the $7.5 million season-ending climax to the Race to Dubai, on the Earth Course, Jumeirah Golf Estates.
Donald is bidding to become the first player to finish a season top of both the European and United States PGA Tour money lists, while McIlroy will want to add gloss to a year which saw him clinch his first major at June's U.S. Open, a feat that still eludes Donald.
McIlroy setsup Dubai showdown with Donald

Here is CNN's brief guide to this weekend's tournament:
Who finishes top?
Having already wrapped up the PGA Tour money list, Donald looked a certainty to secure a historic double.
The Englishman remains in the driving seat but McIlroy's superb end-of-season form, culminating in Sunday's Hong Kong Open win, means the Northern Irishman can still overtake his Ryder Cup teammate.
For McIlroy to finish top, he must win in Dubai. Even then the odds are stacked in Donald's favor with the Englishman needing only to finish ninth, should McIlroy win, to end 2011 top of the pile.
How much is it worth?
As well as a $7.5m tournament prize fund, there is another $7.5m bonus fund that will be shared out between the top 15 players in the Race to Dubai, with the winner receiving a $1.5m cut.
Donald has won a whopping $5.166m in Europe alone this season, while McIlory has $4.106m to his name.
However, a McIlroy victory will lift him up to $5.347m, meaning anything up to ninth place -- which would take Donald onto $5.354m -- is good enough for the current leader.

Remarkably, should Donald share ninth place with one other player, he will finish ahead of McIlroy by just $7!
Richer than America?
No...The big money is still to be won across the Atlantic.
The 20th player in the Race to Dubai is South African Thomas Aiken, who has won $1.342m this year.
Aiken's equivalent on the PGA Tour money list is Australian Aaron Baddeley, who collected $3.094m for finishing 20th this season.
Donald has hoovered up $6.683m from 19 PGA Tour events this season, meaning his 2011 earnings are not far off a whopping $12m over both major tours -- hence his current No.1 world ranking.
Even if Donald was to win the Dubai showpiece, his European prize fund would still be less than his earnings from the United States.
Likely outcome?
The Dubai World Championship is only open to the top 60 players in the Race to Dubai, however, Justin Rose and Fredrik Jacobson have both pulled out, leaving 58 players to battle it out for victory.

But the sheer consistency of Donald's form this season indicates he is likely to get the top nine placing he needs, regardless of what McIlroy achieves in Dubai.
In just 12 European Tour events, six fewer than McIlroy, Donald has had three wins, two seconds, a fourth, a sixth, an eighth, a ninth, an 11th, a 45th at the US Open and a missed cut in The Open.
And McIlory himself has admitted that he is feeling fatigued going into the final tournament of the season.
A virus has sent his white blood cell count "very low" and McIlory told reporters he is currently awaiting the results of tests, after visiting a doctor on his arrival from Hong Kong.
"My energy levels are not exactly where I would want them to be, but I took a day off yesterday and took it easy," he said.
Either way, there will be a new Race to Dubai winner, after Lee Westwood took the honors in 2009 and current third Martin Kaymer in 2010.