McIlroy aiming for top spot in desert shootout

THE vast wealth of a Dubai company called DP World and their willingness to pour a major share of their riches into this week’s Dubai World Championship means Rory McIlroy could still emerge as Europe’s number one golfer.

In spite of his spectacular victory in Hong Kong at the weekend, it still seems like a tall order, given that the brilliant 22-year-old must bridge a whopping gap of €789,788 to overhaul Luke Donald at the head of the European Tour’s order of merit when the decider takes place over the Greg Norman-designed Earth Course at the Jumeirah complex on Thursday.

Donald’s outstanding form throughout the season has been admirable and sees him ideally poised to become the first ever player to lead the money lists in the USA and Europe in the same year. And yet, he could still be caught should McIlroy win in Dubai and Donald finishes outside the leading 10 players in the elite 59-strong field.

Prize money for the tournament alone amounts to $7.5m (€5.5m) with the same amount again on offer in a bonus pool confined to the leading 15 in the Race to Dubai order of merit. It seems a staggering amount of money to pour into a sporting event in these straitened times but all the indications are that the contract will be renewed over the next week or so. DP World is a global ports operator based in Dubai and boasts 60 marine terminals across the globe, from Peru to London. Business, it seems, is thriving.

“The golf tournament reinforces Dubai’s position as an international sports and golfing destination,” said Mohammed Sharif, the company’s chief executive.

“Sponsoring events of such magnitude and prestige is always a carefully-weighed decision.”

So far, so good, then for the European Tour and 59 of its members (Justin Rose is the only one of the 60 qualifiers not playing).

McIlroy travelled to Dubai 2009 in pole position on the money list but was overtaken by an inspired Lee Westwood who finished a brilliant 23 under par, eight ahead of the Irishman in third place. Last year, McIlroy came in fifth behind Sweden’s Robert Karlsson.

Interestingly, Donald didn’t make much of an impression on either occasion over a layout that stretches to a massive 7,675 yards off the championship tees. The Englishman tied for 37th on two under in 2009 and was ninth 12 months ago on eight under. It could well be that a course of such length is tailormade for a big hitter like McIlroy while too severe a test for Donald, who relies for the most part on accurate ball striking and a very solid short game.

Three Irishmen, McIlroy, Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell, are in the running for the bonus money while in all, six Irish players, McIlroy, Clarke, McDowell, Michael Hoey, Shane Lowry and Peter Lawrie have qualified for Dubai. Only England with 11, South Africa, eight, and Sweden, seven, have a bigger representation.

Meanwhile, Damien McGrane and Gareth Maybin are both relieved to have retained their playing privileges on the European circuit next year. McGrane finished 115th, three places inside the cut-off mark, while no praise is too high for Maybin for the manner in which he dug so deep to get to 117th and survive by a single spot. Tournament numbers and prize funds may be dwindling on Tour but Maybin still discovered that the seemingly handsome total of €254,807 was only barely sufficient to keep his card.

Paul McGinley on the strength of his career earnings and Simon Thornton through his ranking on the Challenge Tour will also be on tour in 2012 and there may be more Irish once the qualifying schools have concluded.

And that leaves Pádraig Harrington, 67th on the European money list and 82nd in the world rankings to look back on a very disappointing year. Hopefully he will come out fresh next month and quickly accumulate the tournament wins and the points that will see him retain his Ryder Cup place for a seventh successive time.

After his birdie-birdie finish to win his own Chevron Challenge in California on Sunday, Tiger Woods has given everybody reason to look forward to 2012 with relish.

How ridiculous it is, though, that winning an 18-man tournament without any of the world’s top five should entitle him to jump from 52nd to 21st in the world rankings.