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Battle for Race to Dubai hots up

Dubai - Willett, winner of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in February, is some 300,000 points adrift of Stenson

After 46 tournaments across different parts of the planet, it all comes down to this one.
The DP World Tour Championship to be played out at the sprawling Jumeirah Golf Estates over the weekend not only brings a thrilling golf season on the European Tour to a fantastic finish, the prestigious event also has a lot at stake.
Dubbed the 'Greatest Show on Earth,' the next four days, starting Thursday, aptly fits that tagline to a T. Over the next four days, top golfers, four of them in fact, will be battling the elements of testing Earth Course of the Jumeirah Golf Estates over four rounds, to be crowned the Race to Dubai winner.
Sweden's Henrik Stenson, a long time Dubai resident and one who has won the Race to Dubai previously in 2013, sits comfortably in the box seat, so to speak.
So much so that the world No.4 doesn't even have to win the DP World Tour Championship to lay his hands on the Race to Dubai for a second time.
Stenson, who has won the DP World Tour Championship twice, has the luxury of dictating how the narrative will play out over the four rounds as he holds the remote control with most of the other different permutations and combinations in his favour. Unless he has a horror weekend, the Fremantle Doctor lands up or Murphy's Law appears, the 40-year-old has this in the bag.
And while all seems good for Stenson, there is a chasing pack of three trying to hunt down the Swede. Englishman Danny Willett, fellow Swede Alex Noren and three-time Race to Dubai winner Rory McIlroy are all in contention, going into the home bend.
Willett, winner of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in February, is some 300,000 points adrift of Stenson and is in prime position than the other two. Simply put, the Englishman can win the Race to Dubai if he wins the tournament this weekend.
And although that is the way to look at it, Willett also has other options if different scenarios emerge over the course of the weekend. He can still win the Race to Dubai if he finishes second and if Stenson finishes outside the top two and Noren does not win.
Stenson has been paired with Willett and will tee off at 12.40 p.m. Stenson's compatriot Alex Noren too has a shot at the Race to Dubai after an astonishing season and the past 18 months. The 34-year-old has been on song this season, winning four European Tour events, the most by anyone this term.
Noren, third on the Race to Dubai, comes in on the back of winning the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City, South Africa on Sunday. Bu he too, just like Willett, needs Lady Luck to show up at the Earth Course. It brings us to Rory McIlroy, the current Race to Dubai holder. The World No.2, who relinquished his chances of making it a hat-trick of Race to Dubai and a record fourth, after he pulled out of the Turkish Airlines Open, still has a mathematical window at it, but it is a really long shot.
The Norther Irishman needs to win the DP World Tour Championship and hope Stenson finishes outside the top 45, Willett outside the top five and Noren outside the top two. But McIlroy is not a man to wish ill luck on his competitors and is realistic about his chances, however bleak they may be.
McIlroy will head out with Noren, 30 minutes past noon on Thursday. Meanwhile, there was a bit of fun and games at the Jumeirah Golf Estates on Wednesday with some of the players as well as staff of the European Tour and Jumeirah Golf Estates indulging in the Mannequin Challenge.
While it was meant to be fun, it remains to be seen who will freeze come Sunday.
james@khaleejtimes.com