Titleist ambassador Rory McIlroy holds up the Pro V1x he has trusted as he secured both money lists

With the Race To Dubai already concluded before they arrived in Dubai, players will be battling it out for the prize fund on offer at the Jumeirah Golf Estates at the DP World Tour Championship.

Titleist ambassador Rory McIlroy added the European money list to the US money list when he finished third at the Singapore Open two weeks ago - where fellow Titleist ambassador Matteo Manassero won and, in doing so, became the only teenager to win three European Tour events!

But as the players were arriving in Dubai, the Titleist leadership team was already hard at work. This is the first event on the European Tour for the seeding of the new Pro V1 and Pro V1x prototype golf balls to Titleist ambassadors and golf ball loyalists. See more about the seeding and performance validation process by clicking here.

Arriving fresh from his win at the Dunlop Pheonix, where he won with the new Pro V1x prototype ball, Titleist ball loyalist Luke Donald has got off to a fast start over the Earth Course, leading after a first round 7-under 63.

Other Titleist ball loyalists and ambassadors putting the new Pro V1x prototype golf ball into play this week include Michael Hoey, Louis Oostuizen and Nicolas Colsaerts.

Titleist Pro V1x loyalist Louis Oosthuizen's locker at Jumeirah Golf Estates earlier this week

As the European Tour season culminates in Dubai this weekend at the DP World Tour Championship, the delivery of plain white golf ball boxes to Titleist tour pros got underway at the Jumeirah Golf Estates.

The reason for the plain white boxes? This week marked the start of the tour seeding and performance validation process for the new Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x prototype golf balls on the European Tour.

The Titleist leadership team was on hand to make sure that when each Titleist golf ball player opened their locker at the sumptuous Jumeirah Golf Estates there was a surprise waiting for them.

Titleist's Jonathan Loosemore chats with Pro V1x loyalist Peter Lawrie about the prototype golf balls

But that's just the start of the process. The leadership team is then on hand to talk to each player about the new Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls, their performance characteristics and to talk about how to continue the testing process.

This performance validation from the world's best players is a hugely important step - it's one of the final checkpoints along the way to launching a new product.

Titleist ambassador Michael Hoey and Jonathan Loosemore talk about the golf ball evaluation process

One of the first players to get their hands on the new Pro V1x prototype golf balls was Titleist ambassador Michael Hoey (pictured above and below). And they clearly made an impression, as Michael put them straight into play in Dubai.

Michael gets down to the business of testing the new Pro V1x prototypes on the course

Commenting on the process, Jonathan Loosemore, Titleist's director of leadership promotion, says: "This stage in the launch of new Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls is critical to making sure that the performance criteria we have for those products has been achieved. 

"We'll work with the players this week, over the off-season and again in January when the European Tour season re-starts, making sure that they continue to have the best ball for their game."