Following the opening two events of the Asian Swing in Singapore and India, there is a one-week break in the Race to Dubai schedule before the world's leading players assemble at Augusta National for the Masters Tournament.
So far, the third of five Global Swings has seen two first-time winners emerge in European Challenge Tour graduate Jesper Svensson and former World Number One amateur Keita Nakajima, who topped the Japan Golf Tour Order of Merit in his rookie season last year to earn his DP World Tour membership.
The Asian Swing sees the DP World Tour make further visits to Japan and China, with the first two Major Championships of the year (The Masters and U.S. PGA Championship) also on the next phase of the schedule.
After the International Swing, won by Rory McIlroy, saw visits to the Middle East and Africa between January and March, focus is fully on Asia over the coming weeks.
The Format
The 2024 season on the DP World Tour features a minimum of 44 tournaments in 24 countries and across five continents, underlining its status as golf’s global Tour.
The 2024 Race to Dubai includes three new and distinct phases – five innovative ‘Global Swings’ from November 2023 to August 2024; an historic ‘Back 9’ from September 2024 to October 2024; and two ‘DP World Tour Play-Offs’ in November 2024.
Each Swing will have its own identity and its own Champion who will each earn $200,000 from an overall $1million Bonus Pool.
Swing Champions will also qualify for each of the ‘Back 9’ events, while they will also earn an exemption into the next Rolex Series event. In the case of the Asian Swing, this means an exemption into the Genesis Scottish Open.
In addition, the DP World Tour members who finish in positions one to three only in the final Asian Swing ranking (at the conclusion of the Volvo China Open) will be exempt into the 2024 U.S. PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club from May 16-19.
While points accrued in the Major Championships will count on the Race to Dubai Rankings, they will not count in the Swing Rankings.
What has happened so far?
The Asian Swing kicked off in the city-state of Singapore, where DP World Tour newcomers and favourites contested the Porsche Singapore Classic against the backdrop of the city’s iconic skyline.
After two runner-up finishes earlier on in his rookie campaign, Svensson made his breakthrough at Laguna National with a thrilling play-off victory against Kiradech Aphibarnrat
From the second-smallest to the third-largest country in Asia, the Asian Swing then saw rising star Nakajima become the sixth first-time winner on this year's Race to Dubai as he cruised to a four-shot victory at the Hero Indian Open in New Delhi – the seventh occasion the Tour has visited DLF Golf & Country Club.
What is still to come?
A one-week break now follows, before the world's best golfers descend on Augusta National Golf Club for the first Major of the season: The Masters.
The Tour then visits Japan, for the second edition of the ISPS HANDA - CHAMPIONSHIP, this year being held at the Taiheiyo Club.
The Swing also features the Volvo China Open which is returning to the schedule for the first time since 2019.
The national Open will see the latest Swing Champion crowned, with the subsequent U.S. PGA Championship not counting towards the Swing Rankings as a Major.
The Schedule
| Date | Event | Venue | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 21-24 | Porsche Singapore Classic | Laguna National Golf Resort | Jesper Svensson |
| March 28-31 | Hero Indian Open | DLF Golf & Country Club | Keita Nakajima |
| April 11-14 | The Masters | Augusta National Golf Club | |
| April 25-28 | ISPS HANDA - CHAMPIONSHIP | Taiheiyo Club | |
| May 02-05 | Volvo China Open | Hidden Grace Golf Club | |
| May 16-19 | U.S. PGA Championship | Valhalla Golf Club |
What to Watch out for:
The Asian Swing features visits to some of the toughest examinations in the continent.
The lowest winning total between the visits to India, Korea and Japan last season was 15 under par, statistically at the higher end for events across the campaign.
In addition, New Delhi's DLF Golf & Country Club - long known as a demanding layout for the world's best - proved once again a challenge that caught many out.
Across the four rounds of competition, only seven of the holes played under par as Nakajima claimed a wire-to-wire win to move to the top of the Asian Swing standings.
Shenzhen’s Hidden Grace Golf Club will be hosting the Volvo China Open for the sixth time this year, with 20 under par proving the winning score on its most recent visit in 2019.
A key feature of the Swing-opening venue Laguna National in Singapore - where Svensson matched the course record with a closing 63 before prevailing over extra holes - is the man-made slopes which provided for an added complexity to finding the fairway off the tee and putting on the greens.
With just three high-pressure counting tournaments remaining, whoever takes away the Swing crown will have to work hard for their ranking points.
Swing Ones to Watch out for:
In-form: Tom McKibbin
The Northern Irishman has finished outside the top 25 just once in 2024, with two top 10s in those seven appearances.
Already a champion on the DP World Tour having won the Porsche European Open last year in his rookie season, the 21-year-old has proven he knows how to cross the winning line.
He is also ranked in the top 10 statistically for Driving Accuracy (%) and Stroke Average.
Homegrown hero: Rikuya Hoshino
Hoshino claimed his maiden DP World Tour title at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in February during the International Swing.
The 27-year-old, whose victory at Doha Golf Club was his eighth professional title following seven wins in his homeland, currently sits second on the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex.
Prior to his victory in the Middle East, he twice came close to lifting silverware in the Opening Swing as he finished runner-up in back-to-back weeks in Australia, including a play-off loss to Joaquin Niemann at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open.
Rising Star: Casey Jarvis
From the Sunshine Tour to the European Challenge Tour and then the DP World Tour in a little more than 12 months.
The South African, who turned professional in 2022, landed his maiden victory as a professional last summer on the Challenge Tour as he finished second on their season-long Road to Mallorca Rankings.
Since his promotion, he has shown glimpses of his undoubted potential, mounting a title challenge on home soil at the Alfred Dunhill Championship during the Opening Swing, while he has not missed a cut in his last six starts on Tour.
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If you have not done so already, you can sign up to play the official 2024 DP World Tour Fantasy game and submit your six-man team before round one gets under way on Thursday: https://fantasy.dpworldtour.com/
The 2024 season-long winner will win a trip to the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai next year, enjoy a lesson with a DP World Tour professional and a round of golf on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates. For more information on this amazing prize and others, read here.
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