The European Tour can perhaps lay claim to sport’s most perfect system. With the order of merit title to be decided over four days at the Earth Course in Dubai, the tournament features the three protagonists who have defined European golf’s year.
In July, Henrik Stenson, who holds a €300,000 advantage that makes the Swede the strong favourite to take the Race to Dubai for a second time in four attempts, produced a closing round to win the Open that was described as being among the finest of all time. In April, Danny Willett became the first Englishman in two decades to win the Masters. Alex Noren may be late to the party but the Swede remains worthy of immense respect and credit courtesy of a run of four wins in 11 tournaments since July.
“I’m in great position,” said the 40-year-old Stenson. “I couldn’t have asked for anything better. I wanted to be in a position where I had it in my own hands – knowing that if I win here, that would seal the deal. I’m in an even better position given that I don’t necessarily need to win, even though that’s my mindset coming in.
“It would be one of my finest achievements. It was pretty sweet to be here as Europe’s No1 in 2013 and I don’t think it would be any less sweet being here as Europe’s No1 in 2016 with the season that I’ve had; winning the Open and some other fine performances throughout the year.
“I’m going to give it my best. We all have a long season behind us. This is the final stretch, four rounds of golf. Whether I play great or good or average or whatever it might be, I’m going to try my hardest for four days. It’s been a great summer and a great year. I hope I can finish off in good style.”
Stenson was taken aback when awarded honorary life membership of the European Tour on Wednesday. He is the first Swede to be granted that status.
“It was going to be a big year, 2016,” he added. “We had the Olympics, Ryder Cup, the majors. My mindset was I wanted to play well at those ones, and a lot of times over my career when I really put my mind to something, I managed to achieve it.
“I’m not saying I haven’t tried in the majors before but in terms of preparation and sometimes when you just know you want to peak at a certain time, you can actually make it happen.
“I had that important win at the BMW International in Cologne [during June]. That was a key moment for me. I had not won for a while and to get that one over the finish line, it felt like, ‘OK, winning again is out of the window’, and I just pressed on from there.”
Since 2012, Stenson and Rory McIlroy have been the only winners of the European Tour’s season-ending event. In seven appearances McIlroy has never finished worse than 11th and is an aggregate of 108-under par.
McIlroy said he was not at all surprised with Noren’s recent run – the pair have practised together in Florida – but the 34-year-old Swede said he is not overly concerned about Race to Dubai permutations. “The biggest question between me and my coach is how we’re going to hit that certain shot, what did go well last week and what didn’t go well,” he said. “It’s more about preparation than numbers.”
