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The DP World Tour Championship will have seven huge names missing. The European golf tour concludes in the Middle East this week. Rory McIlroy is still in the hunt for a record-equalling eighth Race to Dubai title. He's hunting down Eugenio Chacarra, who's top of the rankings heading into the finale. The top 50 qualify to compete for the £2.2million top prize at Jumeirah Estates’ Earth Course. But not all of them will be taking part.
Matt Fitzpatrick (14th) is the highest-ranked absentee. Shane Lowry (20th) also opted to give the season-ending play-offs a miss, as did Fitzpatrick's younger brother Alex (35th).
Min Woo Lee (48th) could've been involved had he wanted to, but he won't be teeing up either. Ludvig Aberg (54th) was in with a shout if he'd have played in last week’s Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship, which Jon Rahm won with a two-shot lead over Tyrell Hatton.
Robert MacIntyre (61st) and Justin Rose (69th) round out the seven big names missing. They all snubbed playing in the Middle East amid the ongoing tensions in the region.
Matt Fitzpatrick previously admitted his reservations, saying at the BMW Championship in September: "Being completely honest as things stand right now, I would say I’m not that comfortable.
"A few things have obviously changed for me, perspective and stuff. I’ve had a child in August, and that obviously kind of changes things a bit more."
But McIlroy has insisted he feels safe despite the Israel-Iran war, which saw Saudi Arabia come under attack last month. "I think the only thing would be that if they closed the air space and you were stuck here for a period of time, like people were at the start of year, but like I would still feel safe. I wouldn’t feel like I would be in any danger," he said last week.
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