A new world order
When the Dubai event and rebranding for the tour's traditional Order of Merit money list was announced in late 2007,Mizuno MP 53 Irons it was trumpeted as the biggest prize in golf -- worth $10 million plus the same in bonuses.
It was soon downsized to a $7.5 million tournament and that amount again in extras due to Dubai's well-documented debt problems, and the initial five-year agreement -- which was reduced to three -- is about to end.
O'Grady told CNN he was confident a new deal to keep the event in the emirate will be announced before Sunday's winner is crowned.
"We're looking at a way to keep it in Dubai if we possibly can," the 62-year-old said. "It's a perfect geographical location to finish our calendar year."
The Race to Dubai rebranding has helped the European Tour become a bona fide rival to its U.S. PGA counterpart, which has a $10 million jackpot of its own in the FedEx Cup series and still pulls in the most sponsorship.
"When we were the Volvo Tour with the Volvo Order of Merit, we united Europe on the European stage. This unites the European Tour on the global stage, and we finish in a place that is readily accessible from most of the countries we visit," O'Grady said.
Mizuno MP 68 Irons