​Luke Donald may have had a little smile to himself when he examined the top of the leaderboard at last week’s Abu Dhabi Championship. The penultimate event of the DP World Tour season saw Jon Rahm come in from the cold to win his first event on the tour (excluding majors) in four years, fellow former LIV Golf exile Tyrrell Hatton finish second and Rory McIlroy come home third. Three of European Ryder Cup captain Donald’s most important players dominating one of their home tour’s biggest events – with the promise of more battles to come over the next 10 months before the 2027 showdown with the US at Adare Manor – bodes awfully well.It’s an exciting time for the DP World Tour, with the demise of LIV Golf meaning that many of the sport’s big names, from both Europe and overseas, who would otherwise be playing elsewhere next year will be plying their trade on the circuit formerly known as the European Tour.A rejuvenated Jon Rahm won in Abu Dhabi last week (AP)Leaderboards as star-studded as the Abu Dhabi Championship will become more commonplace, attracting more eyeballs to the tour and giving homegrown players a much more regular taste of elite competition. In that vein, this week’s $10m DP World Tour Championship at the Earth Course in Dubai could be the most exciting finale to the Race to Dubai – the tour’s season-long order of merit – for many years.McIlroy vs Rahm vs Eugenio Chacarra vs Patrick Reed vs Aaron Rai vs Ryan Fox. It has the perfect blend of global superstars who are in good form (Rahm and McIlroy), two more recent major winners (Rai and Fox), a pantomime villain (Reed) and an up-and-coming European talent who has had a superb season and is now trying to hold off the big horses charging from behind (Chacarra). And if you have a soft spot true outsiders, you’ll be pleased to know that even Casey Jarvis, Jayden Schaper and Daniel Hillier still have a mathematical chance of taking the crown should they win the tournament and other results fall in their favour – making it a nine-way battle.Seven-time Race to Dubai winner (including each of the last four) McIlroy must be the favourite, with only he and the much more unproven Chacarra being in the enviable position of knowing that winning the DP World Tour Championship guarantees victory in the order of merit regardless of everyone else’s results. The Northern Irishman will also match Colin Montgomerie for the all-time record of eight if he gets over the line this weekend.Rory McIlroy has won the Race to Dubai on seven occasions (Getty)The season’s in-form player Eugenio Chacarra is trying to hold off the huge names chasing him down (PA)Ryder Cup hopeful Chacarra has won three times on the DP World Tour this season and would send a serious message to Donald if he can hold his own when the pressure is truly ramped up. It’s a golden opportunity for the 26-year-old, who has said this week that he is relishing the chance to prove himself.Meanwhile, the fact that