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Rory McIlroy looks set to win the European Tour money title with nearest rival Peter Hanson and the next four challengers declining to contest the last two tournaments.
McIlroy only has to finish in the top 10 at the Singapore Open this week to clinch the Race to Dubai as he is ?764,776 ($978,000) in front of the second-place Hanson.
English pair Justin Rose and Ian Poulter are next, followed by South African Branden Grace.
Ernie Els had his name removed from the European Tour money list on Monday and is no longer eligible for the £5million DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in two weeks. Or a share of the £2.4million end-of-season bonus pool.
Tour members are required to play 13 counting events in a year and the 43-year-old South African's joint runner-up finish at the WGC-HSBC Champions in China this weekend was only his 10th appearance on the circuit.
To stay on the Order of Merit and play in Dubai Els would have had to compete in this week's Singapore Open and then either the South African Open or Hong Kong Open next week. But his next scheduled tournament is the Asian Tour's Iskandar Johor Open in Malaysia on December 13-16.
All five players under McIlroy are sitting out the tournaments in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Singapore Open organizers were holding an invitation for Hanson but he's cited tiredness and has returned to his Florida home.
"I've been on the road three weeks now since playing the India Open, and that's a long enough time to be away from my young family and they're more important," the Swede said. "It's disappointing that it won't sort of add spice to these next two events but then given the season I've had, winning the KLM Open, playing in a winning Ryder Cup team and beating Rory last week in Shanghai (the BMW Masters) to win three out of four, I have to be very happy."
"In the bigger picture, I still have plenty of years to win the Race to Dubai and besides, given the way Rory has played this year, I feel as though he deserves to end the year No. 1.
McIlroy arrived in Singapore on Monday night for his first appearance in the co-sanctioned event.
Also back home in Orlando is Poulter and Rose. Poulter plans to play in the Australian Masters next week, when the Hong Kong Open will be held.
