Eugenio Chacarra insists he is taking it one week at a time as he looks to take a big step closer to winning the Race to Dubai at the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship.
Chacarra currently leads the way at the top of the Race to Dubai Rankings Delivered by DP World, having replaced long-time leader Patrick Reed following his third win of the season at the DP World India Championship.
But with enhanced points available across both DP World Tour Play-Offs – with next week’s season finale at the DP World Tour Championship to come – even a win at the Rolex Series event at Yas Links may not guarantee him the title, and he could still be overtaken by Reed, Rory McIlroy or Casey Jarvis.
With all that in mind, the Spaniard can be forgiven for not getting ahead of himself as he strives to become just the third of his countrymen to lift the Harry Vardon Trophy after Seve Ballesteros and Jon Rahm.
Chacarra will have a good look at his two nearest rivals in round one as he plays alongside Reed and McIlroy in the final group of the day on Thursday.
Reed has two wins this season to McIlroy’s one, although McIlroy’s came at the Masters, a Major which Reed himself won in 2018.
That puts Chacarra in rarified air on the first tee but the confident 26-year-old says he will not be overawed, although he will enjoy watching his “idol” McIlroy. One of the men Chacarra is aiming to emulate by topping the season-long Rankings is stepping into unfamiliar territory this week, with two-time Major winner Rahm making his Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship debut.
He may be “rusty” after the recent birth of his fourth child but the former World Number One is determined to move up from his current position of 51st place in the Rankings as the top 70 players are whittled down to 50 in the final week of the season.
After enjoying the chance to just be a dad over the past few weeks, Rahm – who has a joint-record five Rolex Series wins to his name – is focusing on getting back to work and mastering the “fantastic” Yas Links layout.
Player Quotes
Eugenio Chacarra: I’m excited. I dream of playing with the best players in the world, and I get a chance to play with Rory, first time playing with Rory. I’ve been watching him play since I was little. He’s one of my idols. So super excited for the opportunity.
I had a chance to play with two of the great players in India, in Justin Rose and Min Woo Lee the first couple rounds, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
So I’m excited to have the pressure on to go out there and show that I can compete with them like I’ve been doing all year. Just have some fun.
They are both major champions. Obviously Rory has won the Grand Slam. So everything I can learn from him – it’s a round I’m going to be looking and I’m going to play my game, and I know if I play my game, I can compete against them and I’m excited for that opportunity.
This week knowing that if I win the tournament, I’m going to have a better chance of winning it (the Race to Dubai). So that’s my only goal. Prepare for the course, the week, to have a chance to win on Sunday; treat it as another tournament.
Obviously it’s a Play-Off and there’s going to be better scores and people pressing, but if I can play the way I’ve been playing all year, I like my chances on Sunday.
Every time I tee off, I want to win. That’s my goal. I love playing. I love competing. So that’s what I’m trying to do this week. I’m trying to go and have a chance on Sunday on last nine holes to win the tournament.
The Race to Dubai, the rankings, things that I can’t control, there’s tremendous players behind me that want it as bad as me, so I can’t control how they are going to play. What I can control is my game, my preparation and myself, and that’s what I’m going to do to hopefully have a chance on Sunday.Jon Rahm: Only saw the front nine. It’s in about as good a shape as you can expect a golf course to be. That was absolutely fantastic. Not a blade of grass out of place. Firm, but reactive in a consistent way. It was truly enjoyable.
The one thing everybody has told me coming to this golf course is that it’s always in great shape and there’s a lot of movement to the greens. That’s main two things that I had. Overall it’s very positive, and Tyrrell (Hatton) was the same. He said it’s in perfect shape.
It’s a good golf course, and there’s going to be some unusual visuals in the greens and shots just because of how much undulation there is but overall it’s good. He was very positive.
I think nowadays, we get very caught up on a golf course fitting a player, where I think as players, it’s our duty to adjust to the golf course and the conditions. I think the players that can do that the best are the ones that can win consistently. If you only play where you think you can play good, it’s going to be a very short career, at least as far as I’m concerned.
So those versatile players that can adjust to the ever-changing conditions I think are the ones that have the ability to win on more golf courses, right. It’s my job to hopefully adjust to how things are going.
I was very happy to be able to be home and be Dad for a little bit. It’s been a long year and there’s been a lot going on, so to live a little bit on what’s more of reality, in a sense, doing what every other father out there does. I help them in the morning and take them to school and all the other fun things you get to do.
I haven’t been able to practice a lot of golf. So after a long flight yesterday, let’s use the word “rusty,” is an understatement. But I would say there’s a balance. I think the first time you become a parent is so new, it’s very difficult. Then when you have another child, you think, oh, how easy it was so have only one or only two. Now we think how easy it was so have only three, right.
2026 Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship
Venue: Yas Links Golf Club, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2025 Champion: Aaron Rai (ENG)
Prize Fund: $9,000,000
Race to Dubai: Tournament 41 of 42
Rolex Series: Tournament 4 of 5
DP World Tour Play-Offs: Tournament 1 of 2
Race to Dubai Points: 9,000