Founded in 1989, the Dubai Desert Classic is one of the staple events on the DP World Tour schedule. It was the first European Tour event on the Arabian Peninsula and its influence has helped pave the way for golf in the Middle East.
This prestigious event has been won by some of golf’s biggest names since its inception, including major winners Seve Ballesteros, Ernie Els, Tiger Woods, Henrik Stenson, Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia, and Bryson DeChambeau.
Part of the Rolex Series, the tournament offers one of the largest prize pots of the regular DP World Tour season, meaning it regularly attracts some of the world’s best players competing on the European circuit. In 2025, this includes McIlroy, as well as Patrick Reed, Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, and Tyrrell Hatton.
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Hero Dubai Desert Classic prize money 2025
The total purse for the Hero Dubai Desert Classic is $9 million. McIlroy pocketed the $1,530,000 in 2024, from the same prize purse, by one shot from Adrian Meronk with Cameron Young of America back in third.
This has been the prize fund for the last two years now so while we await the official figure for this year’s event, you might assume the winner will take home $1,530,000 again.
The event was first established in 1989 and won by Mark James. In the modern era, the Hero Dubai Desert Classic is what’s called a Rolex Series event and it is the first one of the 2025 season.
The Rolex Series is an initiative designed to increase prize funds for the DP World Tour membership and to attract better fields to the more prestigious tournaments on the ‘Old World’ circuit.
There are five Rolex Series events in 2025 and are the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, the Genesis Scottish Open, the BMW PGA Championship, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the DP World Tour Championship. The last two events make up the DP World Tour Playoffs and the finale of the season.
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The first four Rolex Series events listed have $9 million but the DP World Tour Championship, which features the top 50 players in the Race to Dubai rankings, has a $10 million purse.
Below we have the payouts of the previous five renewals of the historic event:
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Dubai Desert Classic prize money
2024
Purse: $9,000,000
Winner: $1,530,000 (Rory McIlroy)
2023
Purse: $9,000,000
Winner: $1,530,000 (Rory McIlroy)
2022
Purse: $8,000,000
Winner: $1,333,330 (Viktor Hovland)
2021
Purse: $3,250,000
Winner: $528,514 (Paul Casey)
2020
Purse: $3,250,000
Winner: $541,660 (Lucas Herbert)
2019
Purse: $3,250,000
Winner: $541,660 (Bryson DeChambeau)
2018
Purse: $3,000,000
Winner: $500,100 (Li Haotong)
2017
Purse: $2,650,000
Winner: $441,755 (Sergio Garcia)
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