All to play for as Dubai looming on the horizon
Whether they’re at the head of affairs, like Rory McIlroy, who is poised to head the orders of merit on both sides of the Atlantic, or dangerously close to the cut line of the 120 players who retain their cards, there is still plenty to play for over the coming three months or so.
McIlroy’s recent victory in the USPGA Championship not only restored him to the number one position in the world rankings but also sent him more than 400,000 points ahead of Justin Rose at the top of the Race to Dubai points list and moved him to within touching distance of Tiger Woods in the USPGA tour order of merit. There were further changes at the end of the Deutsche Bank tournament in Boston last night.
Next best of the Irish in Europe is Graeme McDowell in 7th while Pádraig Harrington (28th) is also assured of a place in the DP World Tour Championship field in Dubai in November. Behind this trio lie a number of Irishmen bidding to get among the leading 60 who make it to the €6m event, with several other lucrative bonus payments for those in the leading 10 overall positions.
Peter Lawrie (53rd) and Michael Hoey (54th) are both inside the cut mark despite disappointing performances at the European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre over the weekend. Damien McGrane and Paul McGinley also needed good performances to improve their prospects but, like Lawrie, both missed the cut. They are now 64th and 71st in the Race to Dubai. The man currently in 60th place is Fabrizio Zanotti from Paraguay, with 341,507 points.
From time to time, Shane Lowry has looked capable of repeating the performance that earned him the Irish Open as an amateur at Baltray in 2009. But he hasn’t always scored as well as his high quality ball striking has clearly merited, and after a disappointing four days in the Alps, is still no better than 67th in the order of merit, his peace of mind not helped by the burglary of the family home in Clara, Co Offaly over the weekend. Given that he led the Irish contingent home in Dubai last year in a share of 8th, worth €143,932, it’s a date in the Gulf that he will not want to miss. Gareth Maybin (97th) and Darren Clarke (100th), also failed to make an impression in Switzerland and are now very much an outside bet for Dubai.
With so much at stake, it is hardly surprising that the majority of the Irish players not involved in the FedEx Cup series in the United States have moved on to this week’s KLM Dutch Open at Hilversum. Lowry, Clarke, Lawrie, McGinley, McGrane and Simon Thornton compete for a €1.8m event that has attracted only Martin Kaymer of Europe’s Ryder Cup team. That event is followed a week later by the Italian Open and after a break for the Ryder Cup, the next big opportunity to pick up points comes in the €5m Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, which Michael Hoey will defend at St Andrews. After that the pickings are relatively slight, with the Madrid Masters and Castello Masters no longer on the schedule and the Andalucia Masters, so often a late season highlight at Valderrama, likely to follow suit.
RACE TO DUBAI (IRISH) STANDINGS: 1st, Rory McIlroy 2, 813,962. 7th, Graeme McDowell 1, 696,610. 28th, Pádraig Harrington 657, 187. 53rd, Peter Lawrie 392,626. 54th, Michael Hoey 390,224. 64th, Damien McGrane 308,300. 67th, Shane Lowry 297,474. 71st, Paul McGinley 293,717. 97th, Gareth Maybin, 186,376. 100th, Darren Clarke 181,476. 155th, David Higgins 82,100. 158th, Simon Thornton 76,719.
