It’s the big one… the curtain-closer… the big showdown… the DP World Tour Championship on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Estates, Dubai. Who can dislodge Rory McIlroy and prevent the World No. 1 running away with the Race To Dubai for a fourth time?
The answer is “damn few” given the Northern Irishman’s blistering current form. Not satisfied with winning the FedEx Cup at the end of the last PGA Tour “year”, glorious Rory kicked off the new campaign by edging out Kurt Kitayama in last month’s CJ Cup in South Carolina. A Majors portfolio reading 2-8-5-3 for 2022 doesn’t sound too shabby either and it was a great regret that the ones that really count just eluded him.
He is a triple course winner but a while back in 2012, ’14 and ’15, and it is only a minor concern that his last two Jumeirah sorties have ended with him being beaten by five (Collin Morikawa last year) and seven (Jon Rahm in 2019) because his game and mind are in better order now. The 7/2 quote in an elite field of 50 is hard to argue with.
The CJ Cup was a key reason for putting up Tommy Fleetwood for last week’s Nedbank Golf Challenge as the Southport man’s share of fourth place there, a ray of sunshine in an otherwise quiet year, was a strong steer towards a successful defence, albeit three years apart.
Hard to believe such a gifted golfer had not won anywhere in between and it was a case of beware the sick golfer as Fleetwood, the 10/1 favourite, admitted a stomach upset would have ruled him out but for the sterling efforts of the Sun City medic.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
He was lucky too that chief rival Ryan Fox duffed his last tee shot and made a bit of a gift of it to the Englishman. Had Fox won, he would have overtaken McIlroy at the top of the Race To Dubai points list. As it is, the New Zealander has closed right up on the leader but there are levels and Rory is a classier act.
`If anyone deserves to finish top of the pile, however, it surely must be the tireless Kiwi who has danced every dance, played seven in a row at one stage, won twice, was eight times in the top five and ten times a top-ten finisher. Not only that, he gets on with it with a smile and at 35 this late bloomer has turned from journeyman to high-class operator.
There’s nothing in Fox’s previous two Jumeirah visits (45th and 28th) to suggest he can topple the favourite on the vast 7675-yard, par-72 Greg Norman layout but its length (two par fives of 620 and 626 yards) won’t beat him -…
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