DP World Tour: What Daniel Hillier needs to do in Dubai to join Ryan Fox on the PGA Tour
Thursday, 13 November 2025
What: DP World Tour Championship. Where: Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai. When: Coverage from 8pm Thursday, live on Sky Sport 1. First round tee times (NZT): Kazuma Kobori 6.15pm, Daniel Hillier 8.15pm.
Kiwi golfer Daniel Hillier will tee off in Dubai knowing he doesn’t just need to beat his nearest rivals - he must build enough of a gap to leapfrog them into a golden ticket to the US.
Coming off an impressive fifth placing in the DP World Tour’s Abu Dhabi Championship, and a $620,000 payday, Hillier starts the year-ending Tour Championship on Thursday night with a prized PGA Tour spot still within reach.
The issue is, he needs to shove his way past England’s Jordan Smith and France’s Martin Couvra on the tour’s rankings to seize one of 10 dual memberships on offer for the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, and join his mate and compatriot Ryan Fox in the US in 2026.
For New Zealand Golf that would be a rare and significant achievement, having two men’s players fulltime in the US after world No 38 Fox secured his future there until the end of 2027 with wins in the Myrtle Beach Classic and Canadian Open.
Combined with a US$10 million (NZ$17.7m) prize pool it’s high stakes for those in the running in the elite 52-man field for the tour finale in Dubai, where a missed putt or one bad hole could prove the difference.
The PGA Tour offers 10 spots to the top-10 finishers on the DP World Tour Race to Dubai rankings who are not already exempt. Those who are secure in the US are Rory McIlroy (No 1), Tyrrell Hatton (No 3), Robert MacIntyre (No 5), Abu Dhabi winner Aaron Rai (No 9) and Tommy Fleetwood (No 10).
That leaves 17th-ranked Hillier 12th in order, with Smith holding the 10th and final spot and Couvra 11th, like Hillier needing a big finish to enter the top-10.
For those like Couvra and Hillier outside the golden ticket zone, there is room for significant movement. There are 12,000 ranking points available in Dubai including 2000 to the winner, down to a mere 50-60 points for whoever finishes last.
Smith sits on 2061.02 points in 15th overall (10th if you remove the five with PGA Tour exemptions), while Couvra is 16th on 1926.15 and Hillier 17th on 1886.82.
The fact there are just 220 points separating Hillier and England’s Daniel Brown, who sits 13th on 2104.36 points (eighth in the PGA Tour race), shows how tight a contest it is, with potential for late changes.
There is also potential for changes at the top, with McIlroy 800 points clear and in pole position for his seventh Race to Dubai rankings title, but still able to be pipped by either Marco Penge or Hatton.
Hillier will tee off with England’s Matt Fitzpatrick at 8.15pm (NZT), with Smith and Couvra paired up 10 minutes later.
Hillier, 27, hit form at the right time with a ninth-equal finish at last month’s India Championship, then last weekend’s effort in Abu Dhabi where he was among the leaders throughout before finishing three shots adrift of Rai who beat Fleetwood in a playoff.
It was Hillier’s fourth top-10 of the year and second-best finish, after his second placing to Hatton in the Dubai Desert Classic in January which earned the Wellingtonian an eye-watering $1.97 million.
His world ranking jumped to 165 and more importantly he rose three spots in the DP World Tour rankings to put himself in PGA Tour contention.
Compatriot Kazuma Kobori finished tied for 41st in Abu Dhabi and is also 41st on the DP World Tour rankings going into the Dubai finale.
Kobori, the world No 187, tees off at 6.15pm to try and finish with a hefty payday after an impressive year in Europe. The 24-year-old from Canterbury had a best finish of second-equal at the British Masters in August which earned him $535,000.