Who Has The Most DP World Tour Championship Titles?

The DP World Tour Championship has been the finale of the circuit’s season since 2009, when the Race to Dubai replaced the Order of Merit

Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy at the DP World Tour Championship
Who has the most DP World Tour Championship titles?
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Every edition of the event has been held at the Earth Course at Dubai’s Jumeirah Golf Estates, and in 2023, Nicolai Hojgaard became the 10th player to win it, when he defeated Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland and Matt Wallace by two shots.

That handed him a $3m payout from the $10m purse, although it wasn’t enough to earn him the Harry Vardon Trophy, which is awarded the player at the top of the Race to Dubai standings after the event, with Rory McIlroy winning it for the fifth time.

The first edition of the tournament, when it was known as the Dubai World Championship, saw Lee Westwood claim $1.666m from the $7.5m purse after his victory over fellow Englishman Ross McGowan, before Robert Karlsson became the first Swede to lift the trophy with a playoff victory over Ian Poulter in 2010.

Lee Westwood with the Dubai World Championship trophy

Lee Westwood won the inagural tournament

(Image credit: Getty Images)

A year later, Spaniard Alvaro Quiroz beat 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie by two. Other one-time winners of the event are Danny Willett, who claimed the title in 2018 and Collin Morikawa, who won in 2021.

However, four players have multiple DP World Tour Championship wins. In 2012, Rory McIlroy beat Justin Rose by two shots for his maiden DP World Tour Championship title, while also claiming his first Race to Dubai title. Three years later, he made that two titles when he beat Andy Sullivan by one. That year, he also claimed the Race to Dubai title for the third time having also won it in 2014.

Rory McIlroy with the DP World Tour Championship trophy and the Race to Dubai trophy

(Image credit: Getty Images)

In between McIlroy’s brace of DP World Tour Championship titles, Henrik Stenson claimed back-to-back victories, in 2013 and 2014. On the second occasion, McIlroy was also strongly in the running for victory, before falling two shots short.

Matt Fitzpatrick then tasted victory for the first time in 2016 after finishing one ahead of Tyrrell Hatton. Four years later, he denied Westwood his second title by one shot to win again, although that year, Westwood had the considerable consolation of the Race to Dubai title.

While McIlroy, Stenson and Fitzpatrick had each won the tournament twice before the 2024 edition, one player has the outright lead.

Jon Rahm claimed the title for the first time just a year after turning professional, at the 2017 event, when he beat Kiradech Aphibarnrat by one, and two years later, he did it again. On that occasion, Fleetwood was the player who got closest to the Spaniard, but missed out by one, and it also sealed Rahm’s maiden Race to Dubai title.

Jon Rahm with the DP World Tour Championship trophy

Jon Rahm has won the DP World Tour Championship title three times

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Three years later, Rahm completed his DP World Tour Championship hat-trick when he beat future Legion XIII teammate Hatton and Swedish player Alex Noren by two shots to give him his third and - at least for the time being - the most titles of anyone.

DP World Tour Championship Winners

  • 2009: Lee Westwood
  • 2010: Robert Karlsson
  • 2011: Alvaro Quiroz
  • 2012: Rory McIlroy (1)
  • 2013: Henrik Stenson (1)
  • 2014: Henrik Stenson (2)
  • 2015: Rory McIlroy (2)
  • 2016: Matt Fitzpatrick (2)
  • 2017: Jon Rahm (1)
  • 2018: Danny Willett
  • 2019: Jon Rahm (2)
  • 2020: Matt Fitzpatrick (2)
  • 2021: Collin Morikawa
  • 2022: Jon Rahm (3)
  • 2023: Nicolai Hojgaard
Mike Hall
News Writer

Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories. 

He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game. 

Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course. 

Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.