The main Race to Dubai may be run but interest should remain in who can finish best of the rest. Or, basically, second to Rory McIlroy.
The Northern Irishman has rightly taken umbrage to the suggestion that he claimed the European Tour’s order of merit without hitting a ball. That is to say, McIlroy didn’t participate in last weekend’s Turkish Airlines Open, after which his status was confirmed.
“You have got to remember the first 10 months of the season, where I actually did play and played very well,” McIlroy acknowledged.
The same applies to others, who by implication from McIlroy’s stunning year have been left firmly in the 25-year-old’s wake. With one event to go, Henrik Stenson holds a narrow lead in second place over Jamie Donaldson. Stenson, a former Dubai resident, has to be highly respected on a course he triumphed on a year ago.
Yet should the Welshman usurp the Swede, few could grudge him such prominence. Donaldson’s tale is one of steady and suddenly stunning progress, which included the sealing of the Ryder Cup for Europe at Gleneagles in September. “It was destiny that it came down to my game, my shot, which was great on my part,” Donaldson says.
Having recently turned 39, Donaldson is in his golfing prime. His was a career that threatened to be over before it properly began, owing to a serious back problem which played a major part in relegation to the Challenge Tour as recently as 2007. He only won his first European Tour event, the Irish Open, two years ago. Since then there has been no looking back.
Donaldson begins his latest event as the 24th ranked player in the world. That’s higher than Ian Poulter, Patrick Reed, Keegan Bradley, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood. He may leap above Tiger Woods by Monday, although the 14-time major winner’s own back problems must be counted as a mitigating factor there.
“The seasons have been getting better and better as things have gone on,” Donaldson says. “This year has been special in a lot of different ways, mainly with the Ryder Cup.
“Every year I have reassessed where I want to be and what I want to be doing. It will be a case of sitting down again at the end of this year and re-assessing. Obviously I want to play better in the majors, that’s the main thing. The WGC events come after that; I obviously just want to keep this pattern going, getting ready to prepare myself to get in the next Ryder Cup team.”
When Donaldson did qualify for Gleneagles, it was through adding extra events to his schedule in order to deal that place. He went to the Czech Masters, for example, and won. This is a golfer who takes nothing for granted, who has attitude to match ability.
Some European players, and particularly those from Britain, have been reluctant to cross the Atlantic at every opportunity to sample life and competition on the PGA Tour. Not so Donaldson, who spent three months based in Florida this year and will do the same – at least – in 2015. “The best thing to do seems to be setting a family base up, getting settled and preparing properly for all the events over there,” he says. “I will come back right in the middle of the season, around Wentworth, like I did this year.”
Donaldson has cause to feel good about himself over four days in Dubai. Should he finish second to McIlroy, it would be a fitting recognition of his efforts.
All aboard the Hull express
A long-awaited success for Christina Kim on the LPGA Tour understandably claimed headlines on Sunday. It would be a shame, however, if Kim’s win overshadowed yet another fine performance from Charley Hull.
Hull claimed sole second place at the Sanya Ladies Open in China, thereby moving herself into second place in the Ladies European Tour order of merit. In this, Hull’s second full year on tour, she has already won more than €240,000, already more than €100,000 more than last season. And the key part – she is still only 18.
There is a regular danger that Hull doesn’t receive the recognition she is due, an issue which is in part representative of ladies golf in the UK. That will have to change soon, if only because it only seems a matter of time before the Kettering teenager wins a major championship.
It also appears inevitable that Hull will move to the United States in the not-so distant future, where her talents can be rewarded more handsomely in a financial sense. She has already proved herself well capable of mixing it with the best players in women’s golf, something people in her home country should probably be quicker to recognise.
Dome saviour to turnaround the Tour?
The European Tour don’t appear to be in any rush to replace their outgoing chief executive, George O’Grady, but that hasn’t stopped a wave of speculation over who might take on the post. For now, nothing at all can be said with confidence or certainty.
Of the numerous names who have been rumoured – and it is no more than that – in golfing circles, that of Pierre-Yves Gerbeau is perhaps the most intriguing. The French businessman, better known as PY, was credited with the turnaround in fortunes of the Millennium Dome and is regarded as something of a sporting entrepreneur. He would hold obvious appeal to the Tour; whether that interest is reciprocal remains to be seen.
After his Dome experience, Gerbeau became chief executive of X-Leisure, building up a portfolio thought to be worth in the region of £600m. After selling a stake in that business for a figure reportedly in excess of £100m, the 49-year-old has spoken of his desire for a fresh, “turnaround” challenge. Would golf fit the bill?
