Steve Palmer's 2023 DP World Tour Rankings predictions & golf betting analysis

Steve Palmer's golf betting predictions and analysis for the 2023 DP World Tour Rankings.

DP World Tour Rankings analysis

It has become obvious with every passing DP World Tour season that what players do in the regulation events counts for little when it comes to determining who will end up atop the DP World Tour Rankings.

Performance in Majors and World Golf Championships will largely decide who contends for the DP World Tour Rankings title. The point is underlined by the fact that Matt Fitzpatrick could afford to skip the whole of the Middle East Swing at the start of this year, yet still have a golden chance of success throughout the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.

Two of those Middle East gatherings Fitzpatrick opted to miss while he worked on swing changes were Rolex Series events - the Abu Dhabi Championship and the Dubai Desert Classic - and he did not tee up on the DP World Tour until the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play at the end of March.

One of the main reasons Fitzpatrick was recommended at 25-1 for last season's rankings was in the hope that he could bank a bumper cheque from the US Open at a Brookline venue he liked. Victory there along with three other solid Major efforts - 14th in the Masters, fifth in the US PGA and 21st in the Open - provided the bedrock of the Sheffield man's campaign.

Fitzpatrick faded over the weekend of the DP World Tour Championship - rounds of 70 and 73 blew his hopes - and Rory McIlroy paraded the season-long prize at the Earth Course in Dubai. McIlroy was victorious despite competing in only ten counting events.

The Northern Irishman teed up in Abu Dhabi (12th), the Dubai Desert Classic (third), the Masters (second), the US PGA (eighth), the US Open (fifth), the Open (third), the BMW Championship (second), the Italian Open (fourth), the Dunhill Links (fourth) and the DP World Tour Championship (fourth). McIlroy did not win any of them, but relentless consistency got the job done. The 2021 champion - Collin Morikawa - played in only ten counting events as well.

Bookmakers are not offering DP World Tour rankings odds at this stage, doubtless spooked by the February hearing which will determine whether LIV golfers can be banned from the Tour. If the layers come alive after that court case, punters should narrow their focus to the Majors and WGCs, with McIlroy an inevitably solid option to retain his crown.

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