Chacarra Grabs India Lead as McIlroy, Reed Chase Race to Dubai

By Staff Writer

October 18, 2026

2 min read

Ed Balaun (supergolfdude) / CC BY-SA via flickr

Key takeaways

Eugenio Chacarra leads the DP World India Championship at 14 under through 11 holes of a third round suspended by darkness, two shots clear of Joost Luiten and Angel Hidalgo.
Patrick Reed trails Chacarra by eight shots; Rory McIlroy trails by 10.
McIlroy is chasing an eighth Race to Dubai title, which would tie Colin Montgomerie's record.
Reed, serving a one-year PGA Tour suspension after leaving LIV Golf, is assured of a top-10 Race to Dubai finish and a 2027 PGA Tour card.

Rory McIlroy came into the DP World India Championship chasing Patrick Reed and a record-tying eighth Race to Dubai title. Through a weather-delayed third round at Delhi Golf Club, neither man leads: Eugenio Chacarra does.

Where does the Race to Dubai standing sit through three rounds?

Chacarra, who left LIV Golf after his contract wasn't renewed following the 2024 season, opened with back-to-back 67s and was 4 under through 11 holes of his third round when play was suspended Saturday for darkness, putting him at 14 under for the tournament. Reed opened with a 3-over 75 before a 69 got him to the cut line at even par; he has played the first 13 holes of his third round in 6 under. McIlroy, who opened 70-68, is 2 over through 15 holes of his third round.

Player	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3 (thru)	Back of lead
Eugenio Chacarra	67	67	4-under (11 holes)	Leader (14-under)
Patrick Reed	75	69	6-under (13 holes)	8 shots
Rory McIlroy	70	68	2-over (15 holes)	10 shots

What is at stake in the Race to Dubai chase?

McIlroy has won four straight Race to Dubai titles and seven overall; an eighth would tie Colin Montgomerie's record. Reed, who left LIV Golf in January and is serving a one-year PGA Tour suspension, has led the Race to Dubai standings since winning in Dubai and Qatar earlier this year. A top-10 finish in the standings, which Reed has already clinched, secures his 2027 PGA Tour card; finishing ahead of every other non-PGA Tour member would also land him a spot in the 2027 Signature Events.

Chacarra entered the week second in the standings after passing McIlroy with a runner-up finish at the Spanish Open, part of a 2026 season that also includes wins at the KLM Open and the DS Automobiles 83° Open d'Italia, plus a T4 at the Omega European Masters and a T3 at the French Open. Once one of the world's top amateurs, Chacarra joined LIV Golf in 2022 and played three seasons there before his contract wasn't renewed after 2024; sponsor invites and a Hero Indian Open win carried him through a 2025 DP World Tour schedule that faded late and left him outside the top 10. He rebuilt his season in 2026 around recovery and nutrition rather than let the same late-season drop-off cost him again. "I need to bring my A-game," Chacarra said Saturday of competing with Reed and McIlroy.