Race to Dubai 2015 prize money: Turkish Airlines Open begins with £3.9m still up for grabs on European Tour for Rory McIlroy
The European Tour’s Final Series – the lucrative home stretch in the Race to Dubai – tees off at the Turkish Airlines Open tomorrow with $30.5m (£19.9m) in prize money still up for grabs.
Rory McIlroy is currently in pole position to receive the $1.25m (£820,000) Race to Dubai prize money bonus and money list title for a third time in four years.
Read more: Rory McIlroy secures European Tour Final Series
The world No3 sits top of the European Tour rankings with $3.3m (£2.15m) already pocketed in prize money earnings from nine events to add to his $4.9m (£3.2m) earned on the PGA Tour.
The Turkish Airlines Open is the first of the four most profitable Race to Dubai events, with a total prize money fund of $7m, and winner’s paycheque of $1.14m (£740,000).
It is followed by the Shanghai’s WGC-HSBC Champions and BMW Masters events which offer its winner $1.4m (£910,000) from a pool of $8.5m (£5.5m) and $1.14m (£740,000) from $7m (£4.57m) respectively, before the season’s curtain closer at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai which rewards its champion $1.5m (£980,000) from a prize money pool of $8m (£5.25m).
The top 15 ranked players at the end of the four events then split two bonus pools worth $5m (£3.26m) and $1.37m (£890,000), but must have competed at the 2015 DP World Tour Championship and at least two other events in the Final Series to be included.
| Player | Race to Dubai prize money* |
| Rory McIlroy | €3.01m (£2.18m) |
| Danny Willett | €2.74m (£1.98m) |
| Louis Oosthuizen | €2.56m (£1.85m) |
| Justin Rose | €2.52m (£1.82m) |
| Shane Lowry | €2.46m (£1.78m) |
| Branden Grace | €2.16m (£1.56m) |
| Bernd Wiesberger | €1.84m (£1.33m) |
| Soren Kjeldsen | €1.51m (£1.09m) |
| Thongchai Jaidee | €1.50m (£1.08m) |
| Anirban Lahiri | €1.45m (£1.05m) |
| Matthew Fitzpatrick | €1.44m (£1.04m) |
| Kiradech Aphibarnrat | €1.34m (£970,000) |
| Byeong Hun An | €1.27m (£920,000) |
| Andy Sullivan | €1.24m (£900,000) |
| Martin Kaymer | €1.19m (£860,000) |
If McIlroy fulfils that criteria and holds onto his No1 position over the next four events he will then take home the top bonuses of $1.25m (£820,000) and $625,000 (£407,954) to add to his prize money earnings.
Should he also manage to win the three Final Series events he is entered for he would boost his earnings by $5.9m (£3.85m).
The Northern Irishman currently sits on 3,012,000 Race to Dubai points giving him a 271,214 point lead over England’s Danny Willett at No2.
Yet with the winner of each Final Series event receiving 1,330,330 points, there is still opportunity for McIlroy to be caught, even if the number of winners' points this year has been cut from 1,660,000.
Justin Rose, ranked fourth, is also in contention but is ineligible for any bonus as he is currently only entered into two events on the Final Series.
Rory McIlroy is skipping the BMW Masters in order to prepare for the DP World Tour Championship but Willett is competing in all four events.
*As it stands 28/10/2015
**This piece has been amended to state Rory McIlroy could earn £3.85m.